MHSAA Announces Tennis Finals Format

September 11, 2020

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

The Executive Committee of the Michigan High School Athletic Association on Thursday approved an adjusted format for this fall’s Lower Peninsula boys tennis postseason to reduce the opportunity for spread of COVID-19 while still awarding team and No. 1 singles champions in four divisions.

The Executive Committee – comprised of officers of the larger Representative Council – approved a one-season switch in postseason format that will match full teams in head-to-head competition. The format switch will limit the numbers of teams playing together at a single site.

The postseason will begin with Team District one-day tournaments to be played during Oct. 7-10 at 16 sites per division. The District champions will advance to the Team Finals in Divisions 1-4 to be played over two days during Oct. 15-17. For each division’s Finals, the first rounds will be played out at four sites before semifinalists converge for the last two rounds.

The following week, during a one-day tournament to be scheduled during Oct. 22-24, 32 No. 1 singles players will compete in bracketed play for the championships in four divisions (eight finalists per division). 

Further details will be provided soon on the Boys Tennis page of the MHSAA Website.

Gwinn Nickname Featured by NFHS

September 24, 2020

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

It can be said that Gwinn is a model town when it comes to choosing a unique high school nickname.

The small Upper Peninsula community is the only one in Michigan with the school nickname Modeltowners, inspired by its birth as an iron mining community just more than a century ago.

Gwinn’s nickname was detailed as part of an “Unusual Nicknames” feature in this month’s edition of “High School Today” published by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS). The full report is below.