| EAST LANSING, Mich. – July 16 – Girls golf, boys track & field, and girls wrestling enjoyed record participation during the 2025-26 school year, with 277,533 athletes competing in Michigan High School Athletic Association-sponsored tournament sports across 755 member high schools. Girls’ golf set a participation record for the second-straight school year, this time with 4,355 athletes – an increase of 9.7 percent from the record total of the year prior. Boys’ track & field also set a participation record for the second straight year, this time with 25,053 athletes, up 1.2 percent from 2024-25. Girls wrestling continued its rapid growth, counting a record 1,783 participants this past winter – a jump of 18.5 percent from the year before – to give wrestling, boys and girls combined, a record total of 12,647 athletes despite a small decrease in the number of boys competing on the mat. This past year’s overall participation total was 1,849 students more than in 2024-25, helped in part by the additions of field hockey and boys volleyball to the MHSAA postseason lineup, but also despite a decrease in enrollment at member high schools of 441 students (approximately one-tenth of a percent). Boys’ participation was up one percent to 162,984 athletes, while girls’ participation was down just two-tenths of a percent to 114,157. MHSAA participation totals count students once for each sport in which they participate, meaning students who are multiple-sport athletes are counted more than once. The addition of field hockey brought 1,169 participants to the girls’ total, which was also a 15-percent increase for that sport compared to the previous school year. Boys volleyball also saw participation increase during its first year of MHSAA sponsorship, up 49 percent to 2,261 athletes. A few more sports also saw participation increases in 2025-26. Gymnastics was up 6.2 percent to 528 athletes, boys golf was up 5.4 percent to 7,819, boys soccer increased 2.3 percent to 14,435 participants, and competitive cheer increased 2.1 percent to 6,454. The boys’ golf total was its highest since 2005-06. Among sports that saw participation decreases during 2025-26, boys basketball, boys bowling, boys lacrosse, girls soccer, girls swimming & diving and boys tennis all fell by less than one percent from the previous school year’s totals. Football again was the most popular sport in terms of participation, with 35,635 athletes – 1.6 percent fewer than the year before but still the sport’s second-highest total over the last eight seasons. Volleyball continues to set the pace as the most popular girls’ sport, with its 19,297 athletes last fall, a decrease of 1.9 percent from the previous year, but still its second-highest total over the last eight seasons as well. The participation figures are gathered annually from MHSAA member schools to be submitted to the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) for compiling its national participation survey. Results of Michigan surveys from the 2000-01 school year to the present may be viewed on the MHSAA Website – www.mhsaa.com – by clicking on Schools > Administrators > Sports Participation Listing. The following chart shows participation figures for the 2025-26 school year from MHSAA member high schools for sports in which the Association sponsors a postseason tournament: |
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