By Staff
EAST LANSING – A record number of schools and teams were crowned champions in Michigan High School Athletic Association post-season tournaments during the 2007-08 school year.
With the addition of an addition division in Lower Peninsula boys and girls swimming, and co-titlists in two sports, the past year saw a total of 125 team champions in classes or divisions, and there were three schools winning their first MHSAA titles in any sport: Walled Lake Central in boys bowling; South Lyon in girls bowling; Garden City in softball; Morley-Stanwood in girls volleyball; and Greenville in wrestling. In addition, there were 27 other teams which won tournament titles in a given sport for the first time.
Twenty two of the 103 schools winning in 2007-08 took more than one crown, with six schools – Bay City All Saints, Birmingham Brother Rice, East Grand Rapids, Petoskey, Saginaw Nouvel and Tecumseh – each claiming at least two championships each in unified tournaments. All Saints led the group with three titles – winning in baseball, boys bowling and softball, while the other five schools each had two championships – Brother Rice baseball and boys lacrosse; East Grand Rapids in boys lacrosse and football; Petoskey in boys and girls skiing; Saginaw Nouvel in girls basketball and football; and Tecumseh in girls bowling and softball.
Marquette won eight total titles; while Ann Arbor Pioneer, Bay City All Saints, East Grand Rapids and Williamston each won three crowns.
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 the other 12 sports.
Four schools ran nine consecutive championship streaks to four or more in a given sport, including: Ann Arbor Pioneer in girls swimming (8) and boys tennis (8); Birmingham Brother Rice in boys lacrosse (4); Gladstone in boys track (5); Hudsonville Unity Christian in girls soccer (4); and Marquette in girls cross country (8) and girls swimming (7).