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: 9/23/20
September 23, 2020
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The official first day of Fall in Michigan saw ranked opponents facing off against some of their toughest opponents to date in volleyball and cross country, plus a league championship tournament in golf.
1. Volleyball: No. 6 Charlevoix won a matchup of Division 3 ranked teams, defeating No. 10 Traverse City St. Francis in five sets – Petoskey News-Review
2. Cross Country: The LPD3 No. 13 Grass Lake girls team handed Hanover-Horton its first league loss since 2015 – Jackson Citizen-Patriot
3. Volleyball: Division 1 No. 10 Traverse City West downed Division 2 No. 6 Cadillac 17-15 in the deciding fifth set for a key league win – Up North Live
4. Cross Country: Pinckney’s boys – ranked No. 13 in Lower Peninsula Division 2 – edged LPD1 No. 12 Brighton 26-29, while the No. 4 Brighton girls held off unranked Pinckney’s by the same score – Livingston Daily
5. Volleyball: Rudyard ran its Eastern Upper Peninsula Conference winning streak to 43 matches with a 3-1 win over Pickford – Sault Ste. Marie Evening News
6. Girls Golf: Adrian Lenawee Christian shot a 393 to win the Independent Golf League championship tournament – JTV
7. Girls Swimming & Diving: Grand Blanc celebrated seven event winners in a 104-82 team victory over Midland Dow; they are honorable mentions in Divisions 1 and 2, respectively – Midland Daily News
8. Volleyball: Division 3 No. 4 Muskegon Western Michigan Christian came back for a five-set win over Ludington – Local Sports Journal
9. Volleyball: Edwardsburg downed Dowagiac 3-1 in a matchup of first-place teams in the Wolverine Conference – Niles Daily Star
10. Boys Soccer: Chelsea improved to 7-0 with a 2-0 win over Melvindale, the reigning Division 2 runner-up – Ann Arbor News
Also of note …
Boys Tennis: From Monday, Lansing Catholic earned a share of the Capital Area Activities Conference White title with a 7-1 win over Ionia – Greenville Daily News
Boys Basketball: Mark Gainforth retired after 24 seasons coaching Unionville-Sebewaing and with a 423-133 record – Bay City Times