MHSAA Sportsmanship Summits to be Presented for First Time Since 2019
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
September 28, 2022
The Michigan High School Athletic Association’s annual Sportsmanship Summit series will return this fall to be conducted for the first time since 2019, again focusing on sportsmanship both on and off the field of play.
The MHSAA has conducted Sportsmanship Summits across Michigan for more than 20 years, and this year’s series kicks off Nov. 7 in Marquette and finishes Nov. 16 in Ypsilanti.
MHSAA staff, with assistance from school administrators and the MHSAA Student Advisory Council, conduct Sportsmanship Summits. More than 800 students are expected to take part in the four workshops, where they will discuss the line that separates good from bad sportsmanship, both as athletes during competition and when it comes to cheering at athletic events.
Workshop sessions will feature hands-on activities including one session developed and instructed by members of the Student Advisory Council. At the end of the day the delegation from each participating school will meet to develop a school sportsmanship campaign. Breakouts at each Summit also provide a great opportunity for student sections to learn about appropriate student section behavior. There will be information for the veteran student sections, as well as guides for schools that want to start their own organized student sections for the first time.
“Winning is great, but good sportsmanship helps develop habits that can be used well beyond the playing field,” said MHSAA assistant director Andy Frushour, the lead Sportsmanship Summits presenter. “A lively student section can create a fun and exciting atmosphere at games, but we want to make sure students don’t take this a step too far. The Summits are a great way to learn from other schools around the state.”
Sessions will take place at the following:
• Marquette – Nov. 7 – NMU Northern Center – 9 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
• Saginaw – Nov. 9 – SVSU Conference Center – 9 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
• Grand Rapids – Nov. 14 – Sheraton Grand Rapids Airport Hotel – 9 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
• Ypsilanti – Nov. 16 – Ann Arbor Marriott Ypsilanti at Eagle Crest – 9 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Registration at each site is limited to the first 225 students and administrators. Schools are welcome to bring as many as 10 total representatives, including two administrators. For additional registration information, contact Andy Frushour at the MHSAA office – [email protected] or (517) 332-5046. Registration information also is available on the MHSAA Website.
MHSAA 2024-25 School Year Classifications Announced, Division Lists Posted
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
April 5, 2024
Classifications for Michigan High School Athletic Association elections and postseason tournaments for the 2024-25 school year have been announced, with enrollment breaks for postseason tournaments posted to each sport’s page on the MHSAA Website.
Classifications for the upcoming school year are based on a second semester count date, which for MHSAA purposes was Feb. 14. The enrollment figure submitted for athletic classification purposes may be different from the count submitted for school aid purposes, as it does not include students ineligible for athletic competition because they reached their 19th birthday prior to Sept. 1 of the current school year and will not include alternative education students if none are allowed athletic eligibility by the local school district.
All sports’ tournaments are conducted with schools assigned to equal or nearly equal divisions, with lines dependent on how many schools participate in those respective sports.
For 2024-25, there are 753 tournament-qualified member schools. Schools recently were notified of their classification, and sport-by-sport divisions were posted to the MHSAA Website today (April 5). MHSAA Executive Director Mark Uyl said a school may not subsequently lower its enrollment figure. However, if a revised enrollment figure is higher and indicates that a school should be playing in a higher division, that school would be moved up.
A pair of MHSAA Finals champions crowned during the first two seasons of this 2023-24 school year are set to move to new divisions for 2024-25. The Ishpeming girls basketball team will shift to Division 3 coming off its Division 4 title last month, while the Hudsonville Unity Christian boys soccer team is moving to Division 2 after winning Division 3 in the fall. The Detroit Old Redford boys basketball team finished Division 3 runner-up last month and will play in Division 2 next season, while this year’s Division 2 boys bowling runner-up Grand Rapids Northview is moving to Division 1 and the fall’s 11-player Division 8 football runner-up Ottawa Lake Whiteford will play in Division 7 this upcoming season.
Visit the respective sport pages on the MHSAA Website to review the divisional alignments for all MHSAA-sponsored tournament sports. Click the “SPORTS” menu on the home page to access the page for each sport, then the “Assignments” link on the selected sport page and then “DIVISION LIST” to see the 2024-25 division.
Traditional classes (A, B, C, D) – formerly used to establish tournament classifications – are used only for MHSAA elections. To determine traditional classifications, after all counts are submitted, tournament-qualified member schools are ranked according to enrollment and then split as closely into quarters as possible. For 2024-25, there are 188 member schools in Class A, Class B and Class D, and 189 member schools in Class C.
Effective with the 2024-25 school year, schools with 793 or more students are in Class A. The enrollment limits for Class B are 378-792, Class C is 169-377, and schools with enrollments of 168 and fewer are Class D. The break between Classes A and B decreased 14 students from 2023-24, the break between Classes B and C decreased two students, and the break between Classes C and D is eight students fewer than for the 2023-24 school year.
The new classification breaks will see 26 schools move up in Class for 2024-25 while 19 schools will move down:
Moving Up from Class B to Class A
Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood
Detroit East English
Detroit Martin Luther King
Detroit Mumford
Plainwell
Sault Ste. Marie
Wayland
Moving Down from Class A to Class B
Flint Southwestern
Fowlerville
Haslett
Owosso
Parma Western
Pontiac
Tecumseh
Moving Up from Class C to Class B
Clinton Township Clintondale
Erie Mason
Fennville
Grand Rapids NorthPointe Christian
Grass Lake
Hamtramck Oakland International Academy
Michigan Center
Waterford Oakside Prep
Moving Down from Class B to Class C
Hartford
Kent City
Pinconning
Taylor Prep
Warren Michigan Collegiate
Moving Up from Class D to Class C
Ann Arbor Central
Breckenridge
Eau Claire
Fowler
Lansing Christian
Marine City Cardinal Mooney
Mayville
Norway
Southfield Manoogian
Taylor Trillium Academy
Three Oaks River Valley
Moving Down from Class C to Class D
Benton Harbor Countryside Academy
Coleman
Detroit Crockett Midtown Science & Medicine
New Buffalo
Saginaw Nouvel Catholic Central
Traverse City Greenspire
Ubly
New Postseason-Eligible Tournament Schools in 2024-25
Ann Arbor Christian
Burton St. Thomas More Academy
Traverse City Greenspire
Farmington Hills Aim
Plymouth Ivywood Classical Academy
Enrollment Breaks by Classes – 2024-25
(Number of schools in parentheses)
Class A: 793 and above (188 schools)
Class B: 378 – 792 (188)
Class C: 169 – 377 (189)
Class D: 168 and below (188)
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.