Participation Again Bests Population Rank
August 11, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
For the eighth straight year, Michigan ranked seventh nationally in high school sports participation, according to statistics for the 2015-16 school year released recently by the National Federation of State High School Associations. That level of participation continued to best Michigan’s national ranking for total number of residents of high school age, which remained ninth for the fourth consecutive year, and Michigan also again ranked ninth or higher in participation in 26 of 28 sports in which the Michigan High School Athletic Association conducts a postseason tournament.
Michigan’s participation ranking was based on a number of 295,436, with 126,160 girls and 169,276 boys taking part, and included sports in which the MHSAA does not conduct postseason tournaments. The totals count students once for each sport in which he or she participates, meaning students who are multiple-sport athletes are counted more than once.
The state’s girls participation remained seventh nationally for the fifth consecutive year, while the boys participation figure continued to rank sixth. According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau figures from 2015, Michigan ranks ninth in both females and males ages 14 through 17.
For the second straight year, 13 sports bested the state’s overall national participation ranking of seventh by placing sixth or higher on their respective lists. Six Michigan sports improved in national ranking during 2015-16, while three sports dropped one position.
Michigan girls bowling, girls tennis and girls and boys skiing all improved from fourth to third in national participation ranking, while wrestling improved to seventh and gymnastics one spot to 11th. Michigan also moved up to eighth, from 11th, for 8-player football participation – significant because the state’s 11-player football participation ranking didn’t fall with that increase, remaining at sixth nationally.
The three sports that fell in national rankings in 2015-16 still remained above population rank – competitive cheer from fifth to sixth nationally, girls track & field one spot to eighth and baseball also from seventh to eighth on its list.
The other Michigan sports that ranked sixth or higher all equaled their national rankings from 2014-15 and included boys basketball at sixth, boys bowling third, boys golf and girls golf both sixth, ice hockey fourth, boys tennis fifth and girls volleyball fourth. Other Michigan sports that equaled their 2014-15 national rankings were girls basketball at seventh, boys and girls cross country both also seventh, boys lacrosse eighth, girls lacrosse 13th, boys and girls soccer both ninth, softball seventh, boys swimming & diving ninth, girls swimming & diving 10th and boys track & field also seventh.
National participation in high school sports in 2015-16 set a record for the 27th consecutive year with 7,868,900 participants – an increase of 61,853 from the year before. After a decline the previous year, boys participation increased about 25,000 to an all-time high of 4,544,574, while girls participation increased for the 27th consecutive year with an additional 36,591 participants and set an all-time high of 3,324,326.
Track and field registered the largest increase in participants nationally for both boys and girls, with an additional 12,501 boys and 7,243 girls. Track and field ranked second to football in boys participants with 591,133, and remained the most popular sport for girls with 485,969 participants. In addition to track and field, six other top-10 girls sports registered increases nationally in 2015-16, including volleyball, soccer, softball, cross country, tennis and lacrosse. After track and field among the top 10 boys sports, soccer registered the largest gain with an additional 7,753 participants, followed by cross country (up 6,710), basketball (up 4,949) and baseball (up 2,248).
Football (1,083,308) remained the most-played high school sport overall and enjoyed an encouraging development. After a decline of nearly 10,000 participants in football the previous year, the number of boys playing 11-player football nationally in 2015 was almost identical to 2014 with a drop of just 309 from the 2014 total of 1,083,617.
MHSAA Details XC, Swim/Dive Tourneys
October 2, 2020
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The Executive Committee of the Michigan High School Athletic Association has approved a series of modifications for this fall’s cross country and girls swimming & diving tournaments as part of efforts to reduce the possible opportunity for spread of COVID-19. The Committee also approved an expanded field for Lower Peninsula Girls Golf Finals made possible by a recent Executive Order announced by Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
The Executive Committee is comprised of officers of the larger Representative Council. The adjustments to these three sports’ tournaments received final approval during the Committee’s Sept. 30 meeting.
This season’s Lower Peninsula Cross Country Tournament will begin with an additional Pre-Regional round, which will divide traditional Regionals into smaller groups in order to limit field sizes per race site. A total of 18 Pre-Regional races per each of four Divisions will qualify the four top-placing teams and seven top individuals not on those teams to nine Regionals per Division. From Regionals, the top three teams and seven individuals not on those teams will advance to each of the Finals, which will be run Friday (Division 1 & 2) and Saturday (Division 3 & 4), Nov. 6-7, at Michigan International Speedway.
To again limit field size and mixing of schools, each Division of the Lower Peninsula Finals for both girls and boys will be run over two races – teams qualifying third from Regionals and all individual qualifiers will be in one section (or heat), with teams that qualified second or first at Regionals in a second section. Two Divisions – four girls and four boys races total – will be run each day of the Lower Peninsula Finals.
The only change for the Upper Peninsula Finals this fall is the three Divisions will be run at separate sites Oct. 24 – Division 1 at Marquette’s Presque Isle Park, Division 2 at George Young Recreational Complex in Iron River, and Division 3 at Pictured Rocks Golf Course in Munising. The format for Upper Peninsula Finals is unchanged from previous years.
Adjustments to this fall’s Lower Peninsula Girls Swimming & Diving Finals were made to accommodate limits on individuals who may assemble together for indoor activities. All diving will take place Friday, Nov. 20, at three Lower Peninsula Finals sites to be determined. All qualifying divers will complete five dives, with the top 20 advancing to perform three more dives. From that second round, the top 16 will advance to perform their final three dives of the competition.
All swimming will be competed Saturday, Nov. 21, with timed championship races in every event instead of the traditional preliminaries and finals. Scores from the swimming and diving portions will be combined to determine final team finish.
The fields for the four Lower Peninsula Girls Golf Finals will expand to their traditional sizes after the Executive Committee previously approved a proposal to limit the fields due to outdoor gathering restrictions. With those gathering limitations eased Sept. 25 by Executive Order 183, Regionals will again qualify the top three teams and top three individuals not on those teams to Finals. As previously announced, the Girls Golf Finals will be contested this season with one 18-hole round instead of the traditional two rounds to eliminate any necessity of overnight trips. The four Girls Golf Finals will be played over Oct. 16-17 at the Forest Akers golf courses at Michigan State University.
Further details for all tournaments will be available on their respective sport pages of the MHSAA Website.
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.