Today in the MHSAA: 5/21/18

May 21, 2018

By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
 

Each weekday of the school year, we break down the top headlines courtesy of Michigan’s sports media.

1. Track & Field: Saline’s boys won their eighth straight Regional title, in Lower Peninsula Division 1, by a mere point over Ann Arbor Pioneer – Saline Post

2. Track & Field: The top-ranked Ada Forest Hills Eastern girls won their fifth straight Regional title, edging East Grand Rapids by fewer than two points in LPD2 – Grand Rapids Press

3. Track & Field: The reigning Upper Peninsula Division 3 champion girls from Lake Linden-Hubbell continued their undefeated run this spring with a Regional title – Houghton Daily Mining Gazette

4. Girls Soccer: Division 2 top-ranked Bloomfield Hills Marian got past Division 3 No. 6 Warren Regina 2-1 in overtime to claim the Detroit Catholic League Division 1 tournament title – Oakland Press

5. Girls Tennis: No. 2 Northville swept the flight championships in winning its LPD1 Regional with a perfect 24 points – Observer & Eccentric

6. Girls Tennis: Traverse City St. Francis, No. 3 in LPD4, won its Regional as expected, with Charlevoix also qualifying for the MHSAA Finals for the first time – Traverse City Record-Eagle

7. Track & Field: Beal City’s boys, No. 2 in LPD4, had only one individual first place but won their first team Regional title since 1999 – Mount Pleasant Morning Sun

8. Baseball: Division 1 No. 7 Brownstown Woodhaven extended its school-record winning streak to 21 games with a 5-4 8-inning win over Gibraltar Carlson; the previous day, Woodhaven’s MHSAA record opponents’ scoreless streak came to an end at 60 innings – Southgate News Herald

9. Baseball: Ludington swept Division 4 No. 13 Muskegon Catholic Central to clinch the Lakes 8 Conference title, its first league championship since 2006 – Ludington Daily News

10. Track & Field: Deckerville’s girls, No. 7 in LPD4, added their sixth straight Regional title to a league title won earlier in the week – Huron Daily Tribune

Also of note …

Softball: From Thursday, Muskegon Mona Shores’ Taylor Dew hit her 50th home run as she and Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard’s Julia Kennedy continue to re-set the MHSAA career record – Local Sports Journal

Baseball: From Thursday, Division 1 No. 21 Byron Center finished a three-game sweep of Division 2 No. 6 Holland Christian to claim a share of the Ottawa-Kent Conference Green title – FOX 17

Volleyball: Novi coach Jennifer Cottrill resigned after leading the Wildcats to the last three Class A championships Oakland 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.