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: 8/30/21
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
August 30, 2021
1. CROSS COUNTRY The Ann Arbor Pioneer girls and Traverse City Central boys won big-school championships, Johannesburg-Lewiston swept the small-school titles, and Hartland’s Riley Hough and Central’s Julia Flynn won races featuring some of the state’s elite individuals at the Benzie Central Pete Moss Invitational – Traverse City Record-Eagle
2. CROSS COUNTRY The Marquette girls edged Negaunee by a point, and the Marquette boys dominated as the school swept the Queen City Invitational titles – Marquette Mining Journal
3. BOYS SOCCER After ferrying across Lake Michigan, Ludington won the inaugural Carferry Classic Cup by downing Wisconsin’s Manitowoc Lincoln – Ludington Daily News
4. VOLLEYBALL Kingsford downed Niagara, Wis., in a tiebreaker to win the Great 8 Fall Classic at Forest Park – Iron Mountain Daily News
5. BOYS TENNIS Midland edged Petoskey by a point to win the eight-team Bill Baum Invitational – Midland Daily News
6. VOLLEYBALL Muskegon Mona Shores repeated as champion at Grand Haven’s Battle on the Boardwalk – Grand Haven Tribune
7. VOLLEYBALL Division 4 No. 5 Traverse City Christian downed host Kingsley 2-1 in the final of the Stags’ invitational – Traverse City Record-Eagle
8. CROSS COUNTRY Holland West Ottawa’s girls won the Under the Light Invitational at Grand Rapids South Christian; the Portage Central boys and both Forest Hills Eastern teams also won championships – Holland Sentinel
9. VOLLEYBALL Division 2 No. 6 Cadillac downed Clio a second time to finish a 5-0 day and championship run at its home invitational – Cadillac News
10. BOYS TENNIS Battle Creek Lakeview claimed its sixth-straight All-City championship – Battle Creek Enquirer
Also of note …
HEALTH & SAFETY Grand Rapids-based be nice. began providing valuable mental health training for MHSAA preseason coaches meetings in 2019, and received some much-deserved national recognition on the TODAY show – TODAY