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: 5/23/19
May 23, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The longest baseball game in MHSAA history and a headline-grabbing first-round Girls Soccer District game top today’s list of achievers from across the state.
1. Baseball: Division 3 No. 15 Blissfield finally edged Division 4 No. 4 Hudson 1-0 in a game that lasted parts of two days and 21 innings, the longest game in MHSAA baseball history – Adrian Daily Telegram
2. Girls Soccer: Brighton downed undefeated and No. 10-ranked South Lyon 3-0 on the first night of the Division 1 District – Livingston Daily Press & Argus
3. Track & Field: Shepherd’s girls locked up their eighth straight Tri-Valley Conference West championship, and the boys won their first league title since 2003; the girls are ranked No. 6 and the boys No. 3 in Lower Peninsula Division 3 – Mount Pleasant Morning Sun
4. Boys Golf: LPD4 top-ranked Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart picked up its second league title in two days, claiming first in the Mid-Michigan Golf Conference – Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart
5. Boys Lacrosse: Plymouth earned a Division 1 Regional Final berth with an 11-8 win over Northville; Plymouth was unranked and Northville No. 4 at the start of the postseason – Observer & Eccentric
6. Softball: Division 2 No. 6 Spring Lake downed No. 8 Allendale 9-4 to earn the Ottawa-Kent Conference Blue championship – Local Sports Journal
7. Boys Lacrosse: Spring Lake got past Muskegon Reeths-Puffer 9-7 in a Division 2 Regional Semifinal; they were ranked Nos. 4 and 8, respectively, at the start of the playoffs – Grand Haven Tribune
8. Track & Field: The Alpena boys and Traverse City West girls won Big North Conference meet championships; Alpena is No. 5 in LPD1 – Alpena News | Traverse City Record-Eagle
9. Boys Golf: LPD2 No. 3 Gaylord shot a 315 to edge No. 10 Cadillac by five strokes and win the Big North Conference tournament – Gaylord Herald-Times
10. Track & Field: Saugatuck’s girls and boys locked up their sixth straight Southwestern Athletic Conference titles – Holland Sentinel
Also of note …
Track & Field: Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart’s girls and Breckenridge’s boys (No. 3 in LPD4) won Mid-State Activities Conference meet titles – Mount Pleasant Morning Sun Girls | Boys
Softball: Marion picked up a share of the West Michigan D League championship with a sweep of Walkerville – Cadillac News
Track & Field: Harbor Springs’ boys and Traverse City St. Francis’ girls won Lake Michigan Conference meet championships – Petoskey News-Review | Traverse City Record-Eagle
Girls Soccer: Traverse City West downed Petoskey 2-0 to clinch the Big North Conference title – Traverse City Record-Eagle
Boys Golf: Lapeer shot a 322 to outpace Grand Blanc by seven strokes at the Saginaw Valley League championship – Midland Daily News
Track & Field: Adrian Madison swept meet championships in the Tri-County Conference; the boys are ranked No. 4 in LPD3 – Adrian Daily Telegram
Baseball: Bay City Western won a share of the Saginaw Valley League North title with a shutout sweep of Division 2 No. 13 Bay City Joh Glenn – Bay City Times
Track & Field: The Grand Blanc boys and Bay City Western girls won Saginaw Valley League meet titles – Flint Journal