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: 8/27/18
August 27, 2018
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Each weekday of the school year, we break down the top headlines courtesy of Michigan’s sports media.
1. Cross Country: Adelyn Ackley led the Hart girls to another fast start with a championship finish ahead of Northville and Ann Arbor Pioneer at the Benzie Invitational; other notable champs included Spring Lake’s boys and McBain with a sweep of small-school titles – Athletic.net
2. Boys Tennis: Traverse City St. Francis won the Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett Invitational, defeating reigning Division 4 champion Liggett in the finale – Traverse City Record-Eagle
3. Boys Tennis: Grosse Pointe South downed Midland Dow 6-2 in a matchup of top-10 Finals finishers from 2017 – Midland Daily News
4. Volleyball: Rain forced teams to leave the “boardwalk,” but Grand Haven went inside to win the Battle on the Boardwalk for the sixth time – Grand Haven Tribune
5. Cross Country: Fowlerville’s boys won the Laingsburg Invitational with three freshmen scoring – Livingston Daily Press & Argus
6. Volleyball: Niles went 7-0 to win the Kalamazoo Loy Norrix Invitational, at one point winning 14 straight sets – Niles Daily Star
7. Volleyball: Centreville swept all five opponents in winning the East Jackson Invitational – Sturgis Journal
8. Boys Tennis: Grand Haven edged Petoskey by two points to win the Holland Invitational – Grand Haven Tribune
9. Cross Country: The Holland girls and Sparta boys won Muskegon Catholic Central Invitational titles – Holland Sentinel
10. Cross Country: Mancelona’s boys and Boyne City’s girls won Mancelona Invitational titles – Petoskey News-Review
Also of note …
Officials: Deerfield’s Bill Gomoluch, a past girls and boys basketball coach at southeastern Michigan high schools and four-time MHSAA Softball Finals official, was named the National Pro Fastpitch Umpire of the Year – Adrian Daily Telegram