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: 2/23/26
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
February 23, 2026
1. GIRLS SWIMMING & DIVING Marquette won its fifth-straight MHSAA Final behind four first places from Kaytlin Roell – MHSAA.com
2. BOYS SWIMMING & DIVING The Sentinels ran their Finals championship streak to seven – MHSAA.com
3. BOWLING The Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central girls won their first Regional championship in this sport and also had the singles champion at their Division 4 events – Monroe News
4. BOYS BASKETBALL Flint Elite downed Flint Hamady 55-51 in the Genesee Area Conference championship game – WJRT
5. BOYS BASKETBALL St. Joseph Michigan Lutheran clinched the Berrien-Cass-St. Joseph Conference championship with a 55-54 win over St. Joseph Our Lady of the Lake – St. Joseph Herald-Palladium
6. INDIVIDUAL WRESTLING Gavin Woodcox set a Mancelona wins record in advancing from his Division 4 Regional – Traverse City Record-Eagle
7. BOWLING The Division 1 No. 2 Macomb Dakota girls made a late move to get past No. 5 Macomb L’Anse Creuse North and win their Division 1 Team Regional – Macomb Daily
8. COMPETITIVE CHEER Allen Park Cabrini advanced to Regionals for the first time during Division 4 District competition – Southgate News-Herald
9. ICE HOCKEY No. 5 Calumet advanced to a Division 3 Regional Final with a 4-3 win over No. 10 Painesdale Jeffers – Houghton Daily Mining Gazette
10. BOWLING Twins Delaney Vanier and Jameson Vanier won Regional titles in Division 2 – Flint Journal
Also of note …
BASKETBALL Petoskey’s girls defeated Alpena to win the Big North Conference title outright, and Harbor Springs Harbor Light Christian’s boys won the Northern Lakes Conference with a 63-60 win over Burt Lake Northern Michigan Christian – Petoskey News-Review
BOYS BASKETBALL Central Montcalm downed White Cloud to clinch the outright title in the Central State Activities Association White – Greenville Daily News
BOYS BASKETBALL Fruitport capped a repeat Ottawa-Kent Conference Silver title run with a 65-42 win over Grandville Calvin Christian – Grand Haven Tribune
BOYS BASKETBALL Hillman clinched the North Star League Little Dipper co-championship with Posen with a win over Au Gres-Sims – Alpena News
GIRLS BASKETBALL Reed City’s Morgan Hammond reached 1,000 career points during a win over Howard City Tri County – Big Rapids Pioneer