Today in the MHSAA: 9/17/18

September 17, 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. Cross Country: Northville’s girls and Hart’s Adelyn Ackley, and Brighton’s boys and Ann Arbor Pioneer’s Nick Foster won the “Elite” races against some of the state’s top competition at the Spartan Invitational in East Lansing; Northville’s girls are No. 1 and Brighton’s boys No. 2 in Lower Peninsula Division 1 – Athletic.net

2. Girls Golf: LPD1 No. 1 Northville shot a 306 and Traverse City West’s Anika Dy carded a 66 to claim championships at the prestigious Top 50 Invitational at Battle Creek’s Bedford Valley – Observer & Eccentric

3. Volleyball: Division 3 No. 2 Bronson edged Division 1 No. 4 Battle Creek Lakeview in the final to win the Portage Northern Invitational – Coldwater Daily Reporter

4. Volleyball: In a matchup of Division 2 honorable mentions, Hamilton downed Cadillac in the final of the latter’s invitational – Holland Sentinel

5. Cross Country: The Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett, Berkley and Goodrich girls and Richland Gull Lake boys were among winners in the closest races of the Holly Invitational – Athletic.net

6. Cross Country: The Fremont and Bear Lake/Onekama boys (LPD4 No. 14) and Ludington and Frankfort girls won championships at the Ludington Invitational – Athletic.net

7. Volleyball: Adrian Madison finished 6-0 in winning the Onsted Invitational title – Adrian Daily Telegram

8. Volleyball: Morley Stanwood swept Mount Pleasant Sacred Heart in the final of the Big Rapids Crossroads Invitational – Big Rapids News

9. Boys Soccer: Adrian claimed its invitational championship with a 4-2 win over Clinton in the final – Adrian Daily Telegram

10. Volleyball: Niles Brandywine finished a perfect run at the New Buffalo Invitational by defeating the host in the final – Niles Daily Star

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.

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.