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.

Akron-Fairgrove and Owendale-Gagetown eager for long-awaited playoff games in first season of eight-man football bracket (Bay City Times)

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: 2/4/19

February 4, 2019

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

This weekend saw the first Michigan girls wrestling state champions awarded, a rematch of last season’s Division 2 Hockey Final and two top-ranked bowling teams face off – and that's just a sampling of the headliners.

1. Wrestling: The Michigan Wrestling Association awarded 15 championships at its first Girls Wrestling Finals – Adrian Daily Telegram | MLive

2. Gymnastics – Reigning MHSAA champion Farmington United finished more than three points ahead of the field at the Canton Invitational, generally considered the most competitive event of the regular season – Coldwater Daily Reporter

3. Hockey: No. 2-ranked Trenton downed No. 1 Hartland in a rematch of last season’s Division 2 Final, this time at the Michigan Interscholastic Hockey League Showcase – Southgate News-Herald

4. Girls Basketball: Midland Dow upset reigning Class A champion Saginaw Heritage 52-48, handing the Hawks their first defeat this winter – Midland Daily News

5. Bowling: Sturgis downed Three Rivers 29-1 in a matchup of the top-ranked boys teams in Divisions 2 and 3, respectively – Sturgis Journal

6. Wrestling: Division 1 No. 2 Brighton, No. 5 Hartland and No. 4 Westland John Glenn took the top three places, respectively, at the Kensington Lakes Activities Association tournament – Livingston Daily Press & Argus

7. Boys Basketball: Benton Harbor’s Carlos Johnson and Ypsilanti Lincoln’s Emoni Bates both scored 35 points in the Tigers’ 86-83 win at Grand Rapids Union – FOX 17

8. Wrestling: Division 4 No. 9 Bronson claimed the Big 8 Conference championship outright, its first league title in the sport – Coldwater Daily Reporter

9. Boys Swimming & Diving: LPD1 No. 4 Detroit Catholic Central repeated as Oakland County meet champion – Oakland Press

10. Wrestling: Brownstown Woodhaven clinched the outright Downriver League championship after sharing the title the last two seasons – Southgate News-Herald

Also of note …

Boys Swimming & Diving: Warren DeLaSalle, No. 8 in Lower Peninsula Division 2, edged Macomb Dakota to claim the Macomb County meet championship – Macomb Daily

Wrestling: Division 4 No. 2 New Lothrop, Division 2 No. 3 Goodrich and Holly won Flint-area league tournaments titles – Flint Journal

Wrestling: Parma Western clinched the Interstate 8 Athletic Conference championship – Coldwater Daily Reporter

Wrestling: Edwardsburg, Division 2 No. 7 Niles, White Pigeon and Schoolcraft earned league tournament titles in the southwestern Lower Peninsula – JoeInsider.com

Wrestling: Iron Mountain won the Mid-Peninsula Conference tournament title – Iron Mountain Daily News

Boys Basketball: St. Clair Shores Lake Shore downed Utica to clinch the outright Macomb Area Conference Blue title – Macomb Daily

Wrestling: Division 3 No. 4 Remus Chippewa Hills had five individual champs and Division 4 No. 8 Leroy Pine River won a team title in more league tournament action – Big Rapids News

Girls Basketball: From Thursday, Cierra Molina became the fifth player to score 1,000 career points for Rudyard, reaching the milestone against Brimley – Sault Ste. Marie Evening News