Catholic High School League

The Catholic High School League (CHSL) is a school athletic conference based in Detroit, Michigan. All of the schools are currently part of the Michigan High School Athletic Association, the governing body for Michigan scholastic sports. Unlike many similar leagues, the CHSL governs secondary, middle, and elementary sports for most of the parochial and private Catholic schools in the Detroit area. Some league schools are not Catholic, but other religious denominations. At the high school level, the league supports 13 boys and 14 girls sports:

Boys: baseball, basketball, bowling, cross-country, football, golf, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, swimming and diving, tennis, track and wrestling

Girls: basketball, bowling, cheerleading, cross-country, golf, ice hockey, field hockey, pom-pon, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, tennis, track and volleyball.

Accomplishments

CHSL member schools have won more than 250 state titles since its founding in 1921.^[1]

Since the MHSAA started competing for statewide football championships in 1971, CHSL teams have won 36 state titles in all eight classes.^[2] Of the top ten all-time winningest football programs, Detroit Catholic Central is eighth.^[3] Current Brother Rice High School head coach (and former Royal Oak Shrine head coach) Al Fracassa holds the state's record for all-time coaching wins with 389, while Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes' Mike Boyd is third at 339 and Catholic Central's Tom Mach fifth with 303.^[4]

In basketball, Orchard Lake St. Mary's is the state's second-winningest all-time program with 1,250 wins.^[5] The Eaglets have captured four MHSAA championships in boys basketball.^[6]

In other sports, Madison Heights Bishop Foley holds the most girls' soccer titles in Michigan history, with 11.^[7] and Catholic Central has captured nine hockey titles.^[8]

Current member secondary schools and division alignment

Current members

The CHSL is divided into four divisions for most sports. The division names and structures vary from sport to sport, but there is almost always a "Central" division, which consists of largest, most competitive schools and consists mostly of single-sex high schools (with the exception of Divine Child High School, which is co-ed).

The divisional alignments for the other conference schools changes from sport-to-sport, depending on the level of talent for each school as well as geographic location within the Detroit area. A list of the other schools is as follows:

Old members

• Academy of the Sacred Heart High School Gazelles (Bloomfield Hills)
• Bishop Foley Catholic High School Ventures (Madison Heights)
• Cabrini High School Monarchs (Allen Park)
• Cardinal Mooney Catholic High School Cardinals (Marine City)
• Cranbrook Kingswood Cranes (Bloomfield Hills)
• Cristo Rey High School Wolves (Detroit)
• Everest Collegiate High School Mountaineers (Clarkston)
• Father Gabriel Richard High School Fighting Irish (Ann Arbor)
• Frankel Jewish Academy Jaguars (West Bloomfield)
• Gabriel Richard Catholic High School Pioneers (Riverview)
• Loyola High School Bulldogs (Detroit)
• Lutheran High School North Mustangs (Macomb)
• Notre Dame Preparatory Fighting Irish (Pontiac)
• Our Lady of the Lakes High School Lakers (Waterford)
• Powers Catholic High School Chargers (Flint)
• Saint Catherine of Siena Stars (Wixom)
• Shrine Catholic High School Knights (Royal Oak)

External links

• Catholic High School League

References

• http://www.aodonline.org/CHSL/CHSL.htm

Cameron, T.C. (2009). Metro Detroit's High School Basketball Rivalries. Mount Pleasant, SC: Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0-7385-6014-6.