Well, another county track meet has come and gone, with the amazing Megan Goethals of Rochester once again performing a superhuman feat and the Troy girls and Novi Detroit Catholic Central boys winning team titles.
A week from today, the state track meet will be held, and Kosmo feels this is the time for a little history to be made, especially for the girls side of things.
No girls track team from Oakland County has ever won a state championship, and it's about time for that to end.
Kosmo feels behind Goethals and a capable group of sprinters and jumpers, Rochester has a great chance to end that drought in Division 1 next week. Troy also is loaded and could contend.
The K-Man doesn't care who it is. Somebody needs to end this drought for girls track teams within the county. Go get em' girls!
- Kosmo wants to wish everyone a happy Memorial Day weekend and please remember what this holiday is for. We wouldn't be able to enjoy pool parties and backyard cookouts if not for the brave men and woman that sacrificed their lives for us in all past wars. Never forget and always be thankful.

All-State softball players are nothing new at Farmington Hills Mercy, which annually produces some of the state's best players on what is traditionally one of the county's strongest programs.
This year, it looks like there's another star in the making on Mercy. In fact, she might turn out to be the best one of all.
Her name is sophomore Kayce Nieto, who is simply tearing it up for the Marlins.
An ace pitcher, Nieto is averaging 15 strikeouts a game and has thrown multiple no-hitters already this season.
She is also one of the team's top hitters.
On Wednesday, Nieto set an MHSAA record for an extra-inning game by striking out an incredible 41 batters from Allen Park Cabrini.
The game started Monday but had to be resumed on Wednesday after the teams still were tied in the 14th inning.
Wednesday saw the game go into the 21st inning before Cabrini prevailed. Still, 41 strikeouts is unreal, and more proof that another star is on the rise at Mercy.
- Kosmo admits he was surprised to see Birmingham Brother Rice win the Catholic League baseball title, but congrats to the Warriors for beating Divine Child in the A-B Final, 8-5. Now, the real fun begins for the Warriors.
On Tuesday, Brother Rice will open up the state tournament with a dandy of a pre-district game against Birmingham Groves.
This might very well be the best first-round game of the entire tournament.

On Wednesday, the annual Catholic League baseball finals will take place at Comerica Park, with two teams representing Oakland County competing in the game.
One is Madison Heights Bishop Foley, which has been near the top of the state rankings in Division 3 all year and will take on Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard in the C-D final at 10 a.m. Saturday.
Kosmo isn't too surprised by the Ventures being at Comerica Park, but he certainly is surprised at the county representative in the A-B final, Birmingham Brother Rice.
Yes, the Warriors are annually a state power and have what could be the state's best collections of coaches in Bob Riker, Brian Kalczynski and Ron Kalczynski.
Those three deserve even more accolades for the job they've done this year. The Warriors were absolutely decimated with graduation losses from last year, especially within the pitching staff.
Not one of Brother Rice's top 5 starters returned, yet here Brother Rice is playing for a Catholic League title. Even though Brother Rice has two studs in the lineup, Pat MacKenzie and Jimmy Pickens, the fact that the Warriors have come this far with such turnover in the pitching staff is nothing short of remarkable.
Brother Rice will meet Dearborn Divine Child in the A-B final at 12:30 p.m.

Believe it or not, the annual Michigan High School Football Coaches Association All-Star game isn't that far off.
Even as all the spring sports start to head into their tournament season, Kosmo couldn't help but be intrigued about which local players will compete in the game.
Kudos to the following for being selected to the East squad: Justin Cherrocci of Birmingham Brother Rice, D.J. Cook of Farmington Hills Harrison, Rob Feeman of Clawson, Dana Harris of Madison Heights Madison, Bryan Haslinger of Clarkston, Gary Hunter of Orchard Lake St. Mary's, Matt Judon of West Bloomfield, Michael Kinville of Novi Detroit Catholic Central, D.J. Lynch of Auburn Hills Avondale, Jason Ray of Birmingham Detroit Country Day, Jordan Sanders of Rochester Adams, Michael Schiano of Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes, Ben Walker of Lake Orion, John Westfall of Milford and Bobby Wunderlich of Troy. Clawson coaches Jim Sparks and Steve Haney will also coach the East squad.
- Next week is the final week of the regular season for spring sports, and it doesn't appear as if many league races are going to be decided. The only exception might be the OAA Red softball race. Troy and Clarkston are tied for first with one doubleheader remaining for each. Troy will play Troy Athens, while Clarkston will meet Lake Orion. Both doubleheaders are on Wednesday.

Rather quietly, one of the more improved softball teams in the area this year has been Birmingham Groves, which is unbeaten in the OAA Blue Division as the regular season winds down.
Groves certainly hasn't been a traditional power over the years, but it could be one its way to becoming one over the next couple of years with a new coach, Ryan Minarik, and some talented underclassmen on the roster.
One of those talented youngsters is sophomore ace pitcher Keely Nowland, who has dominated the league this year. No. 2 pitcher Dayna Kozlowski has also gotten it done.
The Falcons also are capable of scoring lots of runs for Minarik, who coached the last 15 seasons at Ypsilanti.
In terms of the state tournament, the district at Birmingham Seaholm figured to be a battle between West Bloomfield and host Seaholm, but with the regular season Groves has had, the Falcons could very well be in the hunt for a district title as well.
- This weekend already marks the start of playoff time for spring sports, as tennis regionals and track regionals around the state will take place. Next week, it'll be boys golf districts, while baseball, softball and soccer districts start after Memorial Day. It's definitely getting into the good time now.

One of the traditional girls soccer powers in the area is Rochester Adams, although it didn't seem like much was expected of the Highlanders this season with some key graduation losses.
However, Kosmo figured Adams would be right up there among the area's best teams, and they no doubt are despite surprising some.
The Highlanders are ranked No. 6 in the state in Division 1 and can clinch a share of the OAA Red title with a win over Stoney Creek on Thursday.
Adams did what many teams haven't been able to do last week, and that was beat state power Troy.
The Highlanders recorded a 3-1 win on the Colts home field and appear to be peaking right as the state tournament nears.
As is usually the case, Adams features a deep team that could have several all-state players by season's end and has one of the state's top goalies in Jessica Wineke, who's allowed just nine goals this season.
All this may be a surprise to some, but given the track record Adams has a girls soccer power, it isn't to Kosmo.

The OAA North Division baseball race is officially over, as Rochester Adams clinched the league title outright by virtue of a 10-3 win Troy win over Lake Orion on Friday. Adams has only two league losses with two games left, while Lake Orion and Stoney Creek each have five.
Congratulations to the Highlanders, who up to this point have been the county's best team.
However, not winning the league championship could prove to be a great thing for Lake Orion if history repeats itself.
Seemingly every time Lake Orion wins a league title, it fails to win a district title. Seemingly every time Lake Orion does NOT win a league title, it wins districts.
In both 2006 and 2007, the Dragons failed to win their league. But they advanced to the state quarterfinals in 2006, and then most know what happened in 2007. The Dragons ended up winning a state title.
Lake Orion won the league title the last two years, but failed to get out of what's usually one of the toughest districts in the Detroit area.
That should be the case again this year, when Lake Orion will be in a district at Adams with host Adams, Oxford, Stoney Creek and Romeo.
The Dragons will play Oxford on Tuesday, June 1, with the winner playing Adams in a district semifinal on Saturday, June 5.
We'll then see if the pattern of not winning a league title, but winning districts, holds up for Lake Orion.

Every year during the spring sports season, Kosmo has a bigger question on his mind than just who are the best baseball and softball teams in the county.
Those are important things to know, but the K-Man prefers to ask "Which school has both good baseball and softball this spring?"
So far this year, the school with the best combination of good baseball and softball teams appears to be Rochester Hills Lutheran Northwest.
In softball, the Crusaders were off to a 12-2 start going into this past weekend and have a senior-laden team with a terrific offense led by Gracen Meyers and Kirsten Thompson, and solid pitching behind Kacie Todd.
The softball team is currently an honorable mention in the Division 4 state rankings and have the talent to make a run in the state tournament.
The baseball team has slumped a little bit lately, but that's normal for any team. The Crusaders still have spent some time in the state rankings this year and are off to a 12-5 start behind a balanced offensive attack.
Lutheran Northwest is no stranger to success, given the Crusaders won the 2004 Division 4 state title and made it to the semifinals in 2006. Don't be surprised if another long run is in store during next month's playoffs.

Kosmo would like to applaud Stoney Creek, because the school made a nice move to fill its vacant boys basketball coaching position when it hired Steve Norgrove as its new head coach.
Norgrove replaces longtime coach Ken Belote, who retired following the season after building the program from scratch when the school opened in 2002.
The last eight years, Norgrove has been the head coach at Farmington, having gotten a lot out of a group of players within a basketball program that isn't known for being a traditional powerhouse.
A resident of Rochester, Norgrove knows the community well and should do a nice job for the Cougars building upon the foundation set by Belote.
- Speaking of Rochester, it looks as if the school district wants to increase its pay-to-play requirements for athletes for the 2010-11 school year by 184 percent. Wow, that's a lot. Instead of $160, those who play one sport would have to pay $450. Those playing two sports would have to pay $280 instead of $100, while three-sport athletes would pay $170 instead of $60. Kosmo hopes these increases can be avoided, because without sports, the odds are greater of kids getting in trouble after school. Public hearings will be held on the matter tonight, next Monday and on May 24.

Well, it finally happened. After over a month of spring sports, the first major cancellation day due to a day-long rain finally occurred on Friday, with rain and thunderstorms essentially forcing postponements of every high school sporting event on Friday, including soccer and lacrosse.
This is a normal occurrence of the spring, so it wasn't an unusual sight. What was unusual was the fact that this year it took until May 7 for it to happen.
Normally, there are 3 to 4 rain days by now, but the fact everyone who played on Friday is only at one is pretty remarkable. Add the fact that Friday's are normally a lighter day of action during the spring, and most teams around the county still don't have to worry about make-up games quite yet.
We'll see what the weather brings in the next couple of weeks, but so far, so good in terms of cancellation days.
— While the Michigan Stars tournament couldn't finish because of rain last Sunday, it looks as if another longtime tournament that features some quality teams, the Fred Pieper tournament at Memorial Park in Royal Oak, will take place on Sunday. It's not supposed to be warm, but at least it should be sunny and clear.

Not even two months has passed since the Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes girls basketball team won the Class D state title, but it looks as if one spring team is following in their footsteps.
And no, it's not the softball team, traditionally a state powerhouse.
Even though it's been in existence only a few years, the WOLL girls soccer team is off to a torrid start this year.
Building on a successful season last year, the Lakers haven't lost yet this year and are one of the best small-school teams in the Catholic League.
The state coaches association has certainly taken notice, but the Lakers were an honorable mention in this week's state rankings.
It's a wonderful tribute to the Lakers that they not only have a girls soccer program after years of having girls players play with the boys in the fall, but have become such a good program so fast.

Simply put, it probably won't get any better than this for a regular-season high school baseball game.
On Wednesday, the center of the preps sports scene within Oakland County will be Rochester Adams High School, where the second meeting of the season will take place between two of the state's best teams, host Adams and Lake Orion.
The Highlanders and Dragons are tied for first place in the OAA North, so it could have league-title ramifications also. Adams won the first meeting at Lake Orion on April 19, 6-0, behind a complete-game shutout by lefthander Ryan Strum.
Not only is it a battle between two evenly-matched teams that are rivals, but the weather forecast looks sensational for anybody who wants to stop by, given temperatures are supposed to be in the 80's and sunny.
It could also be a prelude to a game in the district portion of the state tournament, which will also be hosted by Adams in the first week of June.
No doubt, it shouldn't get any better than this.

As loaded as the county usually is with traditional baseball powerhouses, such as Lake Orion, Birmingham Brother Rice, or Orchard Lake St. Mary's, this year the center of the county's baseball scene isn't in any of those communities.
It's in Madison Heights.
Huh? I know, it's hard for Kosmo to believe also, but it's true.
First of all, Madison Heights Lamphere is ranked No. 1 in the state in Division 2. The Rams are legit, too. With a core of six players who have played together since they were 9 and 10 years old, they can definitely win it all.
Another team high in the rankings is Madison Heights Bishop Foley, which is ranked No. 4 in the state in Division 3.
The scary part is that both programs could be good in the future as well. Not only are both loaded with non-seniors on their rosters, but usually have a bunch of players from the South Oakland A's, a prominent summer team in the area.
Rumor has it that there are a horde of talented middle school players within the A's program ready to go to Lamphere or Bishop Foley, so Madison Heights could prove to be the center of baseball within Oakland County for years to come.
- The final day of the Michigan Stars Tournament was rained out on Sunday. It was the first time since 2004 that the final day of what arguably is the best regular season tournament in the state couldn't take place.