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: 11/10/15

November 10, 2015

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

This is a transition week for many schools in Michigan, as some winter sports either started practice or started their second week, while volleyball teams and divers are prepping for MHSAA Regionals. Check out some of the headlines we uncovered during our daily drive around statewide media sites.

Cross Country

Farmington’s Maddy Trevisan and Rockford’s Isaac Harding were named Miss Cross Country and Mr. Cross Country, respectively, by the Michigan Interscholastic Track Coaches Association – MITCA.org

Girls Swimming and Diving

Bay City John Glenn continued its reign in the Independent Swim Conference over the weekend as four seniors finished their league careers with four championships – Bay City Times

Volleyball

The last two seasons, Holland Christian has won District titles after beating teams that had beaten them twice earlier those seasons – and will follow setter Kenedy Schoonveld into its Regional Semifinal against another team it lost to earlier this fall – Holland Sentinel

The coaches at Utica and Utica Eisenhower high schools are rivals by virtue of the programs they lead. They’re also married to each other, which obviously makes the fall interesting at the LaPratt home – Macomb Daily

Girls Basketball

Practice started Monday – and here’s the first story we’ve run across. Port Huron Northern is starting out with a little less experience after graduating three key seniors from a year ago – Port Huron Times-Herald