Announcements and Important Events
By Steve Kaminski | Skaminsk@mlive.com
" The sports year may have been cut short, but there is still plenty to celebrate.
MLive is celebrating 20 schools below, including the 2019-20 Michigan Ultimate State Champion.
MLive introduced the Ultimate Sports Champion in 2015 in an effort to determine which Michigan high school had the best school year. The system awards points to schools based on how they fared in Michigan High School Athletic Association-sanctioned state tournaments. Add up all of those points once the school year is complete, and the team with the most is the champion.
The entire spring sports season, as well as the suspended winter sports season, was called off Friday due to the coronavirus pandemic. So which school was atop the standings when the bad news came? We have the answers below, and it includes all fall sports as well as results from the boys and girls skiing, wrestling, boys and girls bowling and competitive cheer tournaments. Girls basketball points were awarded to regional finalists.
Here’s how the scoring system works:
For elimination tournaments like wrestling, state champions receive 20 points, while the runner-up earns 15. Semifinalists collect 14 points, while quarterfinalists earn 12 and regional runners-up 8. Sports like competitive cheer break down like this: Each winner receives 20, second place 15, then deduct one point for each position. The third-place team scores 14 points, fourth 13 and fifth 12, and it continues all the way down to 16th place, which is worth one point.
5. NOTRE DAME PREP: 76
Prep’s girls ski team won a state title, its cheerleaders finished second and boys skiers fourth as the Fighting Scots went from outside the top 20 to the top five. Its volleyball team was a state semifinalist last fall, and its football and girls swim teams scored.
4. CADILLAC: 77
The Vikings also weren’t in the top 20 after the fall season, but four winter teams scored. Cadillac’s boys and girls ski teams both finished sixth, its boys bowling team was state runner-up and girls basketball squad made it to the regional finals. Cadillac’s football and girls cross country teams scored in the fall.
3. ANN ARBOR PIONEER: 85
Pioneer scored all of its points in the fall. Pioneer led the rankings after six teams scored. The Pioneers won the Division 1 girls cross country crown and the boys tennis team won a title, too. The girls swim team was runner-up and its boys cross country, soccer and golf teams scored, too.
2. BRIGHTON: 104
The Bulldogs were sixth in the fall and continued to climb this winter. The boys skiers were runner-up, the wrestling team advanced to the state semifinals and the competitive cheer team was sixth. Brighton won the boys cross country title in the fall and the football team was state runner-up. The girls cross country team was fourth and girls swim team placed ninth.
1. EAST GRAND RAPIDS: 107
The Pioneers went from second in the fall to first this winter to claim their first Ultimate State Championship. EGR’s boys and girls ski teams both placed fifth and the girls basketball team was a regional finalist. The Pioneers’ girls cross country and swim teams won state titles, while the football team won a district crown. EGR’s boys tennis team was fifth and boys cross country team seventh.
PAST CHAMPIONS
2015: Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood
2016: Rockford
2017: Rockford
2018: Rockford
2019: Rockford
2020: East Grand Rapids "
