Today in the MHSAA: 4/29/16

April 29, 2016

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor

Thursday’s rain couldn’t wash out a record-breaking performance and a league title celebration in April.

Baseball

From Wednesday, Calumet played the first baseball games in school history, and won both over Houghton – Houghton Daily Mining Gazette

Boys Golf

Ludington shot a stellar 145 to win the Lakes 8 Activities Conference jamboree at its home course, Lincoln Hills – Ludington Daily News

Boys Lacrosse

Utica Ford’s Nick Iannuzzi unofficially broke (will be official with confirmation by the school) the MHSAA record for goals in a game with 16 in his team’s 20-3 win over Warren Cousino – Macomb Daily

Girls Soccer

Rochester rose to the top of the Oakland Activities Association White with a slim 1-0 win over contender Berkley – Oakland Press

Softball

Clinton’s Renee Hoffman threw her second five-inning no-hitter this season, this one against Petersburg-Summerfield – Adrian Daily Telegram

Milan’s Bethany Hogg threw a six-inning perfect game as her team finished a sweep of Grosse Ile – Ann Arbor News

Also from Wednesday, Escanaba shut out Rapid River by a combined 14-0 over two games, with Taylor Rathe picking up a no-hitter for one of the wins – Escanaba Daily Press

Girls Tennis

The calendar hasn’t turned to May, but we have a league champion as Sturgis claimed the Wolverine Conference South with a win over Three Rivers – Sturgis Journal

Good Reads

Anika Yarlagadda is one of the top tennis players her age in the Midwest – and unlike some others among the elite, she’s also chosen to play on the high school team. She’s having a great time as the top singles player at West Bloomfield, for reasons many individual-sport athletes would understand – Detroit Free Press

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.

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.