Top schools receive Sportsmanship Awards

EAST LANSING - Over 200 teams representing over 170 schools have been recognized for displaying outstanding sportsmanship during selected winter Michigan High School Athletic Association  (MHSAA) postseason tournament competitions through the Good Sports Are Winners! Program, and all will receive awards ranging from framed certificates to commemorative banners and crystal trophies from MEEMIC Insurance, the Association's corporate partner in sportsmanship efforts.

The program is conducted in team sports, with schools being evaluated by tournament management at District, Regional and Final Round sites. This spring, a total of 211 teams at 171 different schools were selected in tournaments conducted in baseball, boys and girls lacrosse, girls soccer, and softball.

The program recognizes one school at each MHSAA tournament center at all levels of play for having met the highest sportsmanlike standards.  Those schools will be presented framed certificates from MEEMIC Insurance. Those teams will also be recognized through the publication of their names in the MHSAA Bulletin, the MHSAA Finals program series, and on the MHSAA Web site.

During 2007-08, 571 teams were recognized in 13 activities for their sportsmanship efforts during MHSAA tournaments. At the Finals in those tournaments, the school judged to have met those standards is presented a crystal trophy and commemorative banner.

Dearborn Divine Child in baseball (Division 2), Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central in boys lacrosse (Division 2), South Lyon in girls lacrosse (Division 1), Ann Arbor Huron in girls soccer (Division 1), and Bay City All Saints in softball (Division 4) were selected by the tournament management at their respective Finals for displaying the exemplary sportsmanship by their coaches, student-athletes and spectators. Presentation dates at each winning school will be announced at a future date.

Dearborn Divine Child was the champion in the Division 2 baseball tournament; Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central was a Division 2 finalist in boys lacrosse; South Lyon was a finalist in Division 1 girls lacrosse; Ann Arbor Huron was the Division 1 girls soccer champion; and Bay City All Saints took the title in the Division 4 softball playoffs.  Forest Hills Central previously won a Finals award in girls soccer in 2003, while the other four schools are first time Finals honorees.  Forest Hills Central was also recognized in baseball at the District level; and All Saints did the same at the Regional level in baseball and softball.

Blissfield and Flushing were recognized in the spring at three tournaments, while 38 schools - Allen Park Cabrini, Battle Creek Pennfield, Bay City All Saints, Capac, Cassopolis, Clare, Clinton, Clinton Township Chippewa Valley, Dansville, Dearborn, Detroit Southeastern, Dexter, Eben Junction Superior Central, Escanaba, Flint Northwestern, Frankenmuth, Freeland, Goodrich, Grand Rapids Central, Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills, Haslett, Hemlock, Kinde-North Huron, Madison Heights Madison, Martin, Mason County Eastern, Montague, New Buffalo, Ottawa Lake-Whiteford, Pinconning, Posen, Roscommon, Sterling Heights Stevenson, Stockbridge, Ubly, Warren Fitzgerald, Warren Mott, and Wyoming Rogers - received mention twice. Baseball led the way with 108 teams honored, followed by 98 teams in softball; 5 in girls soccer; and 2 each in boys and girls lacrosse.

The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by over 1,600 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 that enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract approximately 1.6 million spectators each year.