The wave high school winter sports state tournaments officially got underway earlier this week with team wrestling districts taking place on Wednesday and Thursday.
The postseason for other winter sports will soon follow in the coming weeks. Some, however, will see alterations to their traditional tournament schedules from years past, with one big possible change taking place on the hardwood.
The Michigan High School Athletic Association announced Thursday that the girls basketball state semifinals and finals could see a switch in venue. Slated for the weekend of March 19-21 at the Breslin Center on the campus of Michigan State University in East Lansing, the MHSAA said that the girls hoops finals will shift over to Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, if there is a conflict.
The potential move is contingent on if the Michigan State University women’s basketball team ends up hosting opening weekend games for the NCAA Tournament. The MHSAA added that it hopes to receive further clarity on the matter come the end of February.
Should that be the case, it’d be the first time that the girls basketball finals would be held elsewhere since 2019, when they were held on the campus of Calvin University. That year marked the second straight season the girls hoops championships took place at the school’s Van Noord Arena, with NCAA Tournament scheduling conflicts again popping up then.
The uncertainty around the girls basketball finals was one of multiple scheduling changes that the MHSAA announced on Thursday regarding its upcoming winter championships.
The gymnastics and competitive cheer state finals are tabbed to take place the same weekend on March 6-7. The MHSAA citing “facility availability” reasons at McGuirk Arena in Mount Pleasant, which is where the cheer championships have been held since 2023. Historically, the two finals have been separated with cheer being a week prior to gymnastics.
Additionally, there will be a minor tweak to the bowling state finals. While the Division 2, 3, and 4 championships will all run concurrently on Feb 27-28, the D1 finals will instead be held two days later on March 1-2.