Today in the MHSAA: 10/22/15
October 22, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Some of the state’s dominant cross country programs finished off their league seasons in sweeping fashion Wednesday, while the Lower Peninsula soccer tournament continued through half of its semifinals.
Cross Country
Sand Creek swept the Tri-County Conference championship meets, in both cases finishing ahead of runner-up Adrian Madison. Sand Creek’s boys are ranked No. 12 in Lower Peninsula Division 4 – Adrian Daily Telegram
Hanover-Horton’s ranked teams swept the Cascades Conference meets, with the No. 3 in LPD3 boys winning for the ninth time in 12 years and the No. 10-ranked girls winning for the 16th straight season – Jackson Citizen-Patriot
Clare’s No. 9-ranked girls and No. 11-ranked boys (in LPD3) swept Jack Pine Conference titles, the girls winning their sixth in a row and the boys their eighth – Mount Pleasant Morning Sun
The Northville girls, No. 1 in LPD1, won their sixth straight Kensington Lakes Activities Association Kensington title, while the No. 3 Novi boys edged No. 2 Northville by seven points to claim their crown – Oakland Press
Boys soccer
Fruitport’s Noah Hendricks set a school record for goals in a season with 38, scoring in his 15th consecutive game to lead the No. 9 Trojans to a 7-0 district win over Allendale in Division 2 – Muskegon Chronicle
Division 3 No. 9 Whitehall scored an overtime goal to get past unranked Shelby in a district semifinal – Muskegon Chronicle
Division 2 No. 2 Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern survived No. 17 Grand Rapids Northview, 2-1 in their district semifinal – Grand Rapids Press
Volleyball
Manistique remained undefeated in dual matches this season with a five-set victory over Escanaba on the Eskymos’ parents night – Escanaba Daily Press
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.