Bloomfield Hills Marian’s girls soccer squad capped off a perfect 24-0 season with a state championship. In his 17th season, coach Barry Brodsky’s No. 1-ranked Mustangs blanked 14 opponents in a row leading to the state finale. Senior goalkeeper Isabel Hayes was simply sensational game after game. The turning point occurred early on the tournament trail in a district contest when Hayes made two crucial saves in a shootout against Detroit Country Day to preserve a 1-0 victory.
Marian’s next-door neighbor, Brother Rice, kept alive its perfect string of 13 consecutive state boys lacrosse titles, starting way back in 2002 when the MHSAA sanctioned lacrosse. The Warriors nipped its CHSL staunch rival, Novi Detroit Catholic Central, 8-7, for the fourth year in a row in the state finals.
The CHSL can boast 14 team state championships for 2016-17:
BLOOMFIELD HILLS BROTHER RICE – Won Division 1 boys swimming for the fourth year in a row, rallying to take the final event, the 400 freestyle relay, to edge Ann Arbor Skyline by 26 points; won Division 2 boys hockey, 7-0, over Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern/Eastern; won Division 1 boys lacrosse for 13th year in a row.
BLOOMFIELD HILLS CRANBROOK KINGSWOOD – Won its second straight Division 3 boys tennis title; won its fourth consecutive Division 3 boys swimming title; won Division 2 girls lacrosse in a three-overtime match against East Grand Rapids.
BLOOMFIELD HILLS MARIAN – Won Division 2 girls soccer, 2-1, over Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern, overcoming a 1-0 halftime deficit on a pair of goals by senior Ellie DeConinck and a smothering defense.
CLARKSTON EVEREST COLLEGIATE – Won Division 4 boys golf for the second year in a row, beating Grand Rapids North Pointe Christian by 11 strokes. Sophomore Mitch Lowney led the Mountaineers with rounds of 71 and 72.
MACOMB LUTHERAN NORTH – Won Division 4 girls golf for the school’s first state championship, and became the first high school golf team, boys or girls, from Macomb County to win a state title.
MADISON HEIGHTS BISHOP FOLEY – Won Division 3 baseball, 3-0, over Traverse City St. Francis, breaking open a scoreless game with three runs in the fifth inning.
NOVI DETROIT CATHOLIC CENTRAL – Won Division 1 wrestling, its fifth crown in the last eight years; won Division 1 golf for the third straight year. Sean Niles led all golfers with rounds of 70 and 69.
ORCHARD LAKE ST. MARY’S PREP – Won Division 3 football for the third year in a row, slipping past Muskegon in a 29-28 thriller in the closing 12 seconds.
WARREN DE LA SALLE – Won Division 3 boys hockey, 6-3, over Calumet. Four goals on their first six shots propelled the Pilots to the school’s first hockey championship.
Former CHSL member Pontiac Notre Dame Prep won the Division 3 competitive cheer championship for fourth year in a row, and Monroe St. Mary’s Catholic Central — a Catholic school in the Archdiocese of Detroit but not a member of the CHSL — won the Division 3 state crown in girls softball for the third year in a row, 13-1, against Napoleon.
While an abundance of CHSL athletes won individual state championships, a handful successfully defended their titles from a year ago.
Junior Katie Minnich, of the Farmington Hills Mercy swim team, won the Division 1 100-yard backstroke — just as she did as a freshman and a sophomore. She has four of the top six state championship meet times in her specialty.
Also in swimming, Brother Rice’s Alex Margherio and Jack Grady repeated in the 200 medley relay; Margherio, Mason Wilczewski, and Patrick Olmstead were winners again as part of the 400 medley relay.
Five Catholic Central wrestlers defended their 2016 titles: sophomores Cameron Amine (145 pounds) and Kevon Davenport (130), junior Ben Kamali (112), and seniors Ty Morland (171) and Nick Jenkins (285).
These teams made it to the finals:
BLOOMFIELD HILLS MARIAN – Lost Division 3 swim to East Grand Rapids.
CATHOLIC CENTRAL – Lost Division 1 football to Detroit Cass Tech; lost Division 1 hockey to Brighton; lost Division 1 lacrosse to Brother Rice.
DEARBORN DIVINE CHILD – Lost Division 2 boys soccer to Mattawan, 1-0, in a shootout.
DETROIT LOYOLA – Lost Division 7 football to Pewamo-Westphalia.
FARMINGTON HILLS MERCY – Lost Division 1 swim to Rockford.
LIVONIA LADYWOOD – Lost Division 4 girls golf to Macomb Lutheran North.
Contact Don Horkey at [email protected].
