Today in the MHSAA: 6/13/16
June 13, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Tawas and Clarkston Everest Collegiate won their first MHSAA titles in any sport Saturday, in boys golf, as teams in six sports claimed either Regional or Finals championships over the weekend.
Baseball
Holland Christian won its Division 2 Regional with a walk-off double by star pitcher Mike Mokma – Holland Sentinel
Detroit Country Day’s walk-off homer in the eighth inning pushed the Yellowjackets past reigning Division 2 champion Orchard Lake St. Mary’s 4-3 – Oakland Press
Scottville Mason County Central downed Carson City-Crystal 8-5 in Division 3 to win its first Regional title since 1998 – Muskegon Chronicle
Niles in Division 2 won its first Regional title since 1999 by downing Sturgis after beating top-ranked Coldwater in the day’s first game – Niles Daily Star
Rochester’s last late run pushed it past Adams in Division 1 and to its first Regional title since 1998 – Oakland Press
Boys Golf
Tawas and Clarkston Everest Collegiate won their first MHSAA Finals championships in any sport, while St. Johns won its first in boys golf and Detroit Catholic Central continued its reign in Division 1 – Second Half
Boys Lacrosse
Birmingham Brother Rice continued its 12-year hold on Division 1 and Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central returned to the top in Division 2 at Saturday’s Finals – Second Half
Girls Lacrosse
For the fourth and fifth straight seasons, respectively, Rockford and East Grand Rapids reigned again at Saturday’s Girls Lacrosse Finals – Second Half
Girls Soccer
Grosse Ile downed Williamston 1-0 in Division 3 to win its first Regional title in the sport – Macomb Daily
Softball
Reigning Division 4 champion Unionville-Sebewaing survived two more strong opponents to win its Regional with a 1-0 win over Brown City and then 3-0 win over Waterford Our Lady – Huron Daily Tribune
Reigning Division 3 champion Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central downed No. 8 Napoleon 9-1 and then No. 4 Clinton 7-1 to advance again – Monroe Evening News
Farmington Hills Mercy repeated as a Division 1 Regional champ and slugger Abby Krzywiecki knocked her 20th home run of the season – Detroit News
Shepherd in Division 3 won its first Regional title since 1997 beating No. 9 Reese in the championship game – Mount Pleasant Morning Sun
Macomb Dakota downed two opponents in shutouts to win its first Regional title, in Division 1 – Macomb Daily
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.