EAST LANSING – A record number 126 team champions were crowned in Michigan High School Athletic Association post-season tournaments during the 2009-10 school year.

Three additional title spots were created with the addition of a fourth division of play in the lower peninsula girls golf, girls bowling and boys bowling tournaments; and one tournament – lower peninsula girls tennis – had co-champions in one division.

Of the 126 team champions in classes or divisions, there were seven schools winning their first MHSAA titles in any sport:  Melvindale ABT in boys basketball; Coloma in girls bowling: Allen Park and Rochester Hills Stoney Creek in girls competitive cheer; Byron Center and Vassar in boys track and field; and North Branch in girls volleyball.
In addition, there were 33 other teams which won tournament titles in a given sport for the first time.

Twenty of the 95 schools winning in 2009-10 took more than one crown, with three schools – Beal City, Bloomfield Hills Marian and Detroit Catholic Central – each claiming at least two championships each in unified tournaments.

Catholic Central led the group with four such titles – winning in bowling, football, ice hockey and team dual wrestling; while the other two schools each had two unified championships – Beal City in baseball and football; and Marian in girls volleyball and girls skiing. Catholic Central won six total titles, Marian, Detroit Country Day and Marquette each had four and East Grand Rapids and Saline 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.

Six schools ran consecutive championship streaks to four or more in a given sport, including: Marquette in girls swimming and diving (9), Hudsonville Unity Christian in girls soccer (6), Birmingham Brother Rice in boys lacrosse (6), Battle Creek St. Philip in girls volleyball (4), Kingsford and Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern in girls tennis (4), Marquette in boys swimming and diving (4), and East Grand Rapids in football (4).