Northville one of few public schools to win 3 state titles

 Northville one of few public schools to win 3 state titles

Northville cross country runners pictured (l-r) are Colton Blackburn, Ethan Hertza, Brandon Cloud, Ben Hartigan, Ryan Stojov and Jack Lewis. State meet runners not pictured are Manny Coates and Lucas Mullan.

Three schools celebrated their first Michigan High School Athletic Association Finals championships in any sport during the 2025-26 school year as 39 teams total won first Finals titles in their respective sports.

Holland Calvary, in boys cross country, Durand in boys bowling and Walled Lake Northern in softball won their schools’ first Finals championships in any sport, as 88 schools total won at least one of the 132 MHSAA team titles awarded over the three seasons.

A total of 23 schools won two or more championships this school year, paced again by Marquette with eight earned in girls and boys cross country, boys golf, girls skiing, girls and boys swimming & diving, boys tennis and boys track & field.

Private schools dominate as usual

Detroit Country Day was next with seven Finals championships, followed by Detroit Catholic Central with six and Ann Arbor Pioneer with four.

Young male cross-country runners in black Northville uniforms sprint uphill on a grassy course, bibs 697 and 722 visible with trees behind.
Northvilles Brandon Cloud 697 and Ben Hartigan seized the early lead before finishing 1 2 in Tuesdays Northville Mustang Invitational cross country race

Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, Negaunee, Northville and Rockford all won three titles in 2025-26. Winning two were Birmingham Seaholm, Charlevoix, Farmington Hills Mercy, Flint Kearsley, Flint Powers Catholic, Grand Rapids West Catholic, Jackson Lumen Christi, Lake Linden-Hubbell, Lowell, Newberry, Orchard Lake St. Mary’s, Pewamo-Westphalia, Ravenna, Rudyard and West Iron County.

A total of 48 champions were repeat winners from 2025-26.

A total of 31 teams won championships for at least the third-straight season, while 22 teams extended title streaks to at least four consecutive seasons.

Field hockey, boys volleyball added to post-season

The Lowell wrestling program owns the longest title streak at 13 seasons, followed by Dundee wrestling’s nine consecutive titles and runs of seven straight Finals victories by the Detroit Catholic Central ice hockey team and Marquette’s boys cross country and boys swimming & diving programs.

This school year saw the addition of field hockey and boys volleyball to the MHSAA’s postseason tournament offerings.

Eighteen of the MHSAA’s 30 team championship tournaments are unified, involving teams from the Upper and Lower Peninsulas, while separate competition to determine title winners in both peninsulas is conducted in remaining sports.

For a sport-by-sport listing of MHSAA champions for 2025-26, click here (PDF).

Ed Wright

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