89 Schools Fill 2020-21 Parade of Champions
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
June 24, 2021
A total of 89 schools won one or more of the 132 Michigan High School Athletic Association team championships awarded during 2020-21, with two teams earning the first Finals championship in any sport in their schools’ histories.
Detroit Douglass celebrated its first MHSAA Finals championship by winning the Division 4 boys basketball title to conclude the winter, and Owosso claimed its first by earning the Division 2 softball championship this spring.
A total of 27 schools won two or more championships this school year, paced by Marquette’s five won in boys cross country, boys golf, boys swimming & diving, and both girls and boys track & field. Ann Arbor Pioneer and Grass Lake were next both with four Finals championships. Pioneer won in girls cross country, girls and boys swimming & diving and girls tennis, and Grass Lake was a champion in girls basketball, boys bowling and girls and boys track & field. Grass Lake also had participants on the Jackson Area girls gymnastics team that won its first Finals title.
Nine schools won three MHSAA Finals championships: Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, Bloomfield Hills Marian, Detroit Country Day, East Grand Rapids, Grand Rapids Catholic Central, Hudsonville, Petoskey and West Iron County. Winning two titles in 2020-21 were Adrian Lenawee Christian, Birmingham Seaholm, Carson City-Crystal, Detroit Catholic Central, Dollar Bay, Grand Blanc, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern, Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett, Ishpeming, Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep, Montague, Norway, Richmond, Rockford and South Lyon.
A total of 39 teams won first MHSAA titles in their respective sports. A total of 42 champions were repeat winners from either 2019-20 or 2018-19 for sports that did not award championships in Winter or Spring 2020 because of cancelations due to COVID-19. A total of 15 teams won championships for at least the third-straight season, while six teams extended title streaks to at least four consecutive seasons. The Rockford girls lacrosse and Lowell wrestling programs own the longest title streaks at eight seasons.
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.
Click for a sport-by-sport listing of MHSAA champions for 2020-21.
Century of School Sports: Special Medals, Patches to Commemorate Special Year
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
September 10, 2024
While we’ve begun commemorating our “Century of School Sports” at the MHSAA office in East Lansing, you’ll soon see symbols of this milestone at events all over the state – and our game officials and participating teams will have an opportunity to keep a memento of this celebration.
Our 100th Anniversary logo (see the above left-hand corner of our website) has been incorporated into uniform patches and championship medals that will be worn and awarded all over Michigan during the 2024-25 school year.
Medals have been given to champions going back to nearly the start of the MHSAA – a 1933 basketball tournament medal is among the oldest that have been sent back to us over the years – and medals to be awarded during District, Regional and Finals competition this fall, upcoming winter and spring have been redesigned to reflect the anniversary.
Patches, particularly those worn by our game officials, also date back to the MHSAA’s early decades – officials annually receive patches for their uniforms to signify they are registered with the MHSAA, and our collection in East Lansing goes back to the late 1940s. Several officials signed up for this school year already are receiving their 2024-25 patches, and these include a nod to 100 years. Officials selected for our Finals each season also annually receive a special patch – and for this school year, those Finals patches will reflect the anniversary.
Athletes will have an opportunity to wear a commemorative patch as well. Those taking part in several of our championship competitions will receive patches that adhere to their uniforms (in sports where adding a patch does not interfere with the uniform or competition).
Previous "Century of School Sports" Spotlights
Sept. 4: Fall to Finish with 50th Football Championships - Read
Aug. 28: Let the Celebration Begin - Read
PHOTOS Clockwise from top left: (1) 100-Year Anniversary officials patch. (2) 2024-25 Commemorative medal. (3) 2024-25 Officials Finals patch. (4) 2024-25 District medal. (5) 2024-25 Regional medal. (6) 2024-25 Final medal.