2016-17 Parade of Champions
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
June 23, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Birch Run, Detroit Edison Public School Academy, Plymouth Christian Academy and Zeeland East celebrated their first Michigan High School Athletic Association team championships this school year, as 97 schools total won one or more of the 129 Finals titles awarded during 2016-17.
Teams earning the first MHSAA championship in any sport for their schools were Birch Run in girls bowling, Detroit Edison PSA in girls basketball, Plymouth Christian in girls volleyball and Zeeland East in boys track & field.
A total of 31 teams won first MHSAA titles in their respective sports. A total of 54 champions were repeat winners from 2015-16 – and 28 of those won for at least the third straight season, while 14 extended title streaks to at least four consecutive years.
The Birmingham Brother Rice boys lacrosse team has the longest title streak of 13 seasons, while the Petoskey boys skiing team and Marquette girls track & field team share the second-longest streak at seven straight championships.
Marquette claimed the most MHSAA team titles, five, winning in Division 1 boys skiing and Division 1 girls skiing, Upper Peninsula boys swimming & diving, and Upper Peninsula Division 1 boys track & field and girls track & field. All five were repeat championship wins. No other school won four or more titles, but six more schools won three: Birmingham Brother Rice, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, East Grand Rapids, Midland Dow, Negaunee and Rockford.
Also claiming multiple championships were Detroit Catholic Central, Detroit Country Day, East Kentwood, Escanaba, Grand Rapids Catholic Central, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central, Ishpeming, Ishpeming Westwood, Jackson Lumen Christi, Lowell, Munising, Pewamo-Westphalia, Powers North Central, Rochester, St. Ignace and Vandercook Lake.
Sixteen of the MHSAA's 28 championship tournaments are unified, involving teams from the Upper and Lower Peninsulas, while separate competition to determine titlists in both Peninsulas is conducted in remaining sports.
For a sport-by-sport listing of MHSAA champions for 2016-17: Click Here.
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,400 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract more than 1.4 million spectators each year.
PHOTO: The Saline baseball team celebrates its first MHSAA championship Saturday at Michigan State University.
Applications Available on MHSAA Website for 2024-25 Scholar-Athlete Awards
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
October 24, 2024
One of the Michigan High School Athletic Association’s most popular programs, the Scholar-Athlete Award, will again with Farm Bureau Insurance present 32 $2,000 scholarships to top student-athletes at member high schools during the 2024-25 school year.
The MHSAA/Farm Bureau Insurance Scholar-Athlete Award highlights the value extracurricular activities play in the total education of high school students, often improving their academic achievements in the process. The Scholar-Athlete Award is in its 36th year. Since the award’s inception in 1988-89, Farm Bureau Insurance has presented $1,088,000 in scholarships through this program.
The first 30 scholarships will be presented on a graduated basis across the MHSAA’s traditional class structure. From Class A schools, six boys and six girls will receive scholarships; from Class B schools, four boys and four girls; from Class C schools, three boys and three girls; and from Class D schools, two boys and two girls will be honored. The final two scholarships will be awarded at-large to minority recipients, regardless of school size. The scholarships may be used at the institution of higher learning the recipients attend during the first year at those colleges.
Applications from individual schools will be limited to the number of available scholarships in their enrollment class. Class A schools may submit the names of six boys and six girls, Class B schools may submit four boys and four girls, Class C may submit three boys and three girls and Class D may submit two boys and two girls.
Students applying for Scholar-Athlete Awards must be graduating during the 2024-25 school year, carrying an unrounded 3.5 (on a 4.0 scale) grade-point average and have won a varsity letter in a sport in which the MHSAA sponsors a postseason tournament: baseball, girls and boys basketball, girls and boys bowling, girls competitive cheer, girls and boys cross country, football, girls and boys golf, girls gymnastics, ice hockey, girls and boys lacrosse, girls and boys skiing, girls and boys soccer, softball, girls and boys swimming & diving, girls and boys tennis, girls and boys track & field, girls volleyball and wrestling.
Applicants will be required to show involvement in other school and community activities and submit an essay on the importance of sportsmanship in educational athletics.
Information – including answers to a number of frequently asked questions – and links to the application are available online on the Scholar-Athlete Award page of MHSAA.com. Applications are available in digital format only and must be submitted online by 4 p.m. Dec. 6.
A committee composed of school administrators from across the state will select finalists and winners in late January, with the winners to be announced throughout February. All applicants, finalists and scholarship recipients will be announced on the MHSAA Website. The 32 scholarship recipients will be recognized during the 2025 MHSAA Boys Basketball Finals at the Breslin Student Events Center in East Lansing.
Farm Bureau Insurance of Michigan was founded in 1949 by Michigan farmers who wanted an insurance company that worked as hard as they did. Those values still guide the company today and are a big reason why it is known as Michigan’s Insurance Company, dedicated to protecting the farms, families, and businesses of this great state. Farm Bureau Insurance agents across Michigan provide a full range of insurance services – life, home, auto, farm, business, retirement, Lake Estate®, and more – protecting more than 660,000 Michigan residents.
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,500 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract more than 1.4 million spectators each year.