Linked Up: 10/28/11
October 28, 2011
Each week I'll post links to stories that interest me most during my travels in online sports land. I was going to wait for next week for this first installment, but these seemed worthy of telling you about now.
See something high school sports-related that you think others would find valuable? Send me a link.
These two teams provide multiple reasons why 8-player football has been such a strong addition -- most notably, it is providing our smallest schools with an opportunity to still play football despite fewer players, and succeed. The sport took off in this state in 2009, and this weekend mark the start of the first MHSAA 8-player Tournament. Akron-Fairgrove will play its first postseason game since 1992, while Owendale-Gagetown will play its first since 1979.
Olivet's Peters coaching his heart out (Battle Creek Enquirer)
I covered Olivet and coach Dean Peters for more than a decade, including during last season's first-ever Eagles run to the MHSAA football finals. One of the great people in high school coaching, he needed emergency double-bypass surgery earlier this month but is back in the coaching booth. Olivet faces Lansing Catholic in a Pre-District game.
Megan Hubbard a standout for Hanover-Horton cross country (Jackson Citizen-Patriot)
This is a neat story about a runner who is second-best on her team and has never won a race -- but also is likely the second-best to ever run at her school. Usually, we hear only about who finishes first.
Standley Lake football player Rhett Gutierrez overcomes eye disease (The Denver Post)
Almost always, links I post will be Michigan-related. But this story is just incredible. We've seen athletes with different degrees of vision impairment do incredible things in high school athletics. But this is the first time I've heard of someone overcoming that obstacle to play quarterback for his football team.
Today in the MHSAA: 9/16/19
September 16, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
We’re a month away from the start of the postseason in most sports, but many of the state’s best got looks at the competition this weekend at prestigious invitationals for cross country, volleyball and girls swimming & diving.
1. Cross Country: The Brighton boys – top-ranked in Lower Peninsula Division 1 – finished first, and the LPD2 No. 1 East Grand Rapids girls finished second to a team from Ohio as the top in-state performers in the Elite race at the Spartan Invitational at Michigan State University – Athletic.net
2. Volleyball: Division 1 No. 3 Lowell won the Farmington Hills Mercy Invitational, sweeping the host and top-ranked Marlins in the final – Oakland Press
3. Girls Swimming & Diving: Zeeland claimed the West Michigan Relays title at Grand Haven, edging runner-up and LPD3 No. 1 East Grand Rapids by two points – Swimcloud.com
4. Cross Country: The LPD1 No. 3 Dexter boys and LPD1 No. 5 Salem girls were Division I winners, and Saugatuck swept its division’s races among many at the Holly Invitational – Athletic.net
5. Cross Country: Saline (LPD1 No. 4 girls, No. 6 boys) swept the Division 1 races, while the LPD2 honorable mention Tecumseh girls and Adrian boys also were team champions at the 51st Huron Invitational – Athletic.net
6. Volleyball: Division 3 honorable mention Morley Stanwood repeated as Big Rapids Crossroads Invitational champion, sweeping Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart in the final – Big Rapids News
7. Volleyball: Kingsford continued its tournament success this fall with the championship at the Gladstone Rock Invitational – Iron Mountain Daily News
8. Volleyball: Division 4 No. 5 Mendon lost only one set on the day and defeated Reading in the final in winning the Union City Tournament – Sturgis Journal
9. Volleyball: Manton also lost only one set in claiming its invitational, downing Charlevoix in the final – Cadillac News
10. Cross Country: The LPD1 No. 4 Romeo boys and Sterling Heights Stevenson girls claimed Autumn Classic championships – Macomb Daily