Today in the MHSAA: 10/27/15
October 27, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
A pair of notable volleyball accomplishments for two of the state’s top Class B teams tops the headlines from Monday’s action from across the state.
Cross Country
Detroit Catholic Central won its ninth straight Detroit Catholic League championship, while Waterford Our Lady’s Tessa Fornari won her fourth individual title – Oakland Press
Waldron senior Alicia Roney won the Sand Creek Invitational after finishing second each of the last two seasons – Hillsdale Daily News
Boys Soccer
From Saturday, Division 2 No. 1 Holland Christian downed No. 11 East Grand Rapids with a second-half goal to win a District title – Holland Sentinel
Also from Saturday, Leslie won its first District title, led by coach and former Mason standout goalkeeper Jake Derby, who also led the Leslie girls team to its first District title during the spring – Jackson Citizen-Patriot
Volleyball
Class B top-ranked Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard continued its surge, downing No. 5 Pontiac Notre Dame Prep to win the Class A-B championship of the Detroit Catholic League – Oakland Press
The Catholic League C-D final matched unranked Madison Heights Bishop Foley and Allen Park Cabrini, but Bishop Foley built on a semifinal win over Class D No. 6 Waterford Our Lady by winning the title in four sets – Oakland Press
Saginaw Swan Valley, an honorable mention in Class B, downed Birch Run, Hemlock and Saginaw Valley Lutheran to set a school record by improving to 51 wins this fall – Saginaw News
Linked Up: 10/28/11
December 13, 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.