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: 5/24/18
May 24, 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. Softball: Division 1 No. 8 Plymouth continued its impressive run through the Kensington Lakes Activities Association tournament with a 3-0 win over No. 5 Hartland in the final – Observer & Eccentric
2. Baseball: Unranked Plymouth also clinched the KLAA tournament title in this sport with a 2-1 upset of No. 4 Howell – Livingston Daily Press & Argus
3. Track & Field: Detroit Renaissance swept the Detroit Public School League girls and boys meets, the girls for the second straight year and the boys ending Cass Tech’s seven-year reign– Detroit News
4. Girls Soccer: Division 4 top-ranked North Muskegon gave up its first goal this season, but got five from Sophie Mueller in a 7-1 win over Whitehall in the West Michigan Conference championship game – Local Sports Journal
5. Boys Golf: Battle Creek Harper Creek won its first All-City championship since 2004, by 12 strokes over Lakeview – Battle Creek Enquirer
6. Track & Field: Traverse City Central dominated the Big North Conference meets, sweeping the girls and boys league championships; Central’s boys are ranked No. 5 in Lower Peninsula Division 1 – Traverse City Record-Eagle
7. Girls Soccer: A draw with Division 1 No. 19 Brownstown Woodhaven gave Division 2 No. 9 Trenton its fourth straight Downriver League title – Southgate News Herald
8. Softball: Undefeated and Division 2 No. 3 Spring Lake swept Whitehall to get coach Bill Core his 600th career win – Grand Haven Tribune
9. Softball: Division 2 honorable mention Three Rivers capped a championship season in the Wolverine Conference with a sweep of Paw Paw and 18-0 league record – Sturgis Journal
10. Baseball: Williamston scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to get past Division 4 No. 7 Portland St. Patrick 4-3 in the Capital Diamond Classic – Lansing State Journal
Also of note …
Boys Basketball: Detroit East English coach Juan Rickman has left that post to take the same position at Ferndale – Detroit Free Press