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: 5/9/19
May 9, 2019
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Tennis, track & field and lacrosse teams continued to close out league titles Wednesday as those three sports approach the starts of their MHSAA postseasons next week.
1. Girls Tennis: Holland West Ottawa, No. 7 in Lower Peninsula Division 1, edged No. 6 Rockford to lock up half of the Ottawa-Kent Conference Red championship – Holland Sentinel
2. Girls Soccer: Division 1 No. 2 Midland finished a perfect run through the Saginaw Valley League North with a 2-1 win over rival Dow – Midland Daily News
3. Girls Soccer: With a 1-1 draw against Division 2 No. 3 Richland Gull Lake, Portage Central locked up the Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference regular-season title – WWMT
4. Girls Tennis: LPD3 No. 6 Grand Rapids Catholic Central downed Spring Lake to clinch half the title in the O-K Blue – Grand Rapids Press
5. Track & Field: The LPD4 top-ranked Pittsford girls and No. 6 Hillsdale Academy boys repeated as Southern Central Athletic Association East champions – Hillsdale Daily News
6. Boys Lacrosse: Hartland, No. 5 in Division 1 entering the week, downed Plymouth 14-5 in the Kensington Lakes Activities Association title game – Livingston Daily Press & Argus
7. Baseball: Division 2 No. 14 Essexville Garber scored a sweep of Division 3 No. 19 Pinconning, 3-0 and 6-2 – Bay City Times
8. Boys Golf: LPD2 No. 3 Gaylord continued to surge with a win at the Big North Invitational, shooting a 323 – Gaylord Herald Times
9. Boys Lacrosse: Traverse City United followed up an earlier one-goal win over Petoskey with an 11-10 overtime victory in the rematch – MI Sports Now
10. Boys Golf: Spring Lake shot a 159 to maintain first place in the O-K Blue with a nine-stroke league win – Grand Haven Tribune
Also of note …
Boys Basketball: Coach Jacob Polfus stepped down with a 169-75 record after 11 seasons leading Carney-Nadeau, including guiding a trip to the Class D Semifinals in 2012 – Escanaba Daily Press