The Catholic High School League wound up its fall sports calendar last Saturday in the same fashion as it has for half a century – with Farmington Hills Mercy taking home the girls swimming championship. The Marlins won for the 26th consecutive year, and for the 49th year of the last 50.

Mike Venos, who has taken over Mercy’s swim program (succeeding Shannon Dunworth after 12 years), also coaches Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice, winners of 17 CHSL championships in a row.

Venos got a big laugh when asked whether he was ever going to lose a swim meet in the Catholic League.

“A winning program is a tradition at both schools,” he said. “That’s what it was before I got there. I just try to keep it going.” Rice has won a state title the last three years, while Mercy had won six state crowns under Dunworth’s tutelage.

Mercy has a lot of talent, no doubt about that. It also has the numbers, its roster of near 50 swimmers more than doubling its closest competitor, Bloomfield Hills Marian with 24, enabling the Marlins to have swimmers, many times three or four, in every heat.

Mercy piled up 643 points against Marian’s 539 points. However, 61 points of Mercy’s victory margin came in diving. Marian had no divers in the event.

Competing in its first CHSL playoffs, Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, with just 18 swimmers, finished a solid third with 352 points.

Rounding out the scoreboard were Warren Regina (186 points), Livonia Ladywood (156), and Madison Heights Bishop Foley, whose seven swimmers scored 80.

Here’s a rundown of the CHSL champions in the other fall sports:

BOYS TENNIS: Brother Rice, Fr. Gabriel Richard – Brother Rice won the Division 1 title for the fifth year in a row. Ann Arbor Fr. Gabriel Richard won Division 2; it last won the crown in 2013.

GIRLS GOLF: Mercy – Sophomore Mia Sooch shot a 3-over-par 74 for medalist honors to lead Mercy to its fourth CHSL championship in the last five years. The Marlins won by five strokes over Macomb Lutheran North.

GIRLS FIELD HOCKEY: Marian – Bloomfield Hills Marian outlasted Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood, 1-0, for its fifth CHSL crown in 11 years.

BOYS SOCCER: Catholic Central, Cabrini – Two first-half goals by Ryan Pierson and outstanding goalkeeping by Trevor Ostrowski combined to give Novi Detroit Catholic Central a 4-2 victory for the A-B championship over Cranbrook-Kingswood. In the C-D title match, Allen Park Cabrini won its first-ever CHSL championship, a 3-0 shutout of Royal Oak Shrine.

BOYS CROSS COUNTRY: Brother Rice, Bishop Foley – Alec Miracle, Michael Tremonti, Grant Davey, Kevan O’Brien and Kyle Chisholm finished among the top 12 runners to power Brother Rice to the Division I/II crown, breaking Catholic Central’s nine-year win streak. In Division III/IV, Bishop Foley won its first-ever cross country crown, nipping runner-up Riverview Gabriel Richard by two points.

GIRLS CROSS COUNTRY: Divine Child, St. Catherine – The Aho sisters paced Dearborn Divine Child to the I/II title. Haley Aho finished first, her sister Brook Aho third, while Kaitlin Murray, Veronica Norwood and Mikle Mayes came in 6-7-8. Wixom St. Catherine won the III/IV team title, a first for the five-year program. Clare Brinkman, Alex Worth, Shannon Ryan, Ann Borek and Anne Herrmann led the Stars.

PREP BOWL: Shamrocks, Falcons, Cranes – In Prep Bowl XLIV, Catholic Central won its first A-B title since 2011, 17-14, over Orchard Lake St. Mary’s. Divine Child ended a 19-year title drought (back to 1998) by outlasting fumble-prone Detroit Loyola, 35-24, in the wild card game. Cranbrook-Kingswood disposed of Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes, 30-0, for the C-D championship.

VOLLEYBALL: Fr. Gabriel Richard, Bishop Foley – Both were repeat winners. Fr. Gabriel Richard took the A-B crown, 3-1, over Mercy. In the C-D division, Bishop Foley won 3-2 over a tenacious Allen Park Cabrini squad, which had beaten Foley twice during the regular season.

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Don Horkey may be reached at m[email protected].