Today in the MHSAA: 9/28/15
September 28, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
This weekend’s highlights included elite swimming competitions and a cross country race so fun that a football team came out to run.
Cross Country
The Cadillac girls, No. 6 in Lower Peninsula Division 2, and the unranked Middleville Thornapple Kellogg boys won championships at the Muskegon Oakridge Invitational – Cadillac News
LP Division 1 No. 4 Brighton took the top five places to win the Monroe Jefferson Invitational with a perfect score – Livingston Daily
The LP Division 1 No. 6 Bay City Western boys and No. 12 Midland Dow girls won Division 1-2 races at the Delta College Invitational – Midland Daily News
Boys Soccer
Unranked Warren DeLaSalle upset Division 1 No. 3 Utica Eisenhower on Saturday, 2-1, on two goals by Aleks Vushaj – Macomb Daily
Girls Swimming & Diving
Midland Dow won the Tri-City Invitational for the fifth straight season, edging Saginaw Heritage after falling to the Hawks in a dual earlier this fall – Saginaw News
LP Division 3 No. 2 Holland Christian won its invitational ahead of No. 1 Grand Rapids Catholic Central and No. 5 Grand Rapids Christian – Grand Rapids Press
Volleyball
Brooklyn Columbia Central swept Concord in two sets to win the 41st Jackson County Tournament, played at Spring Arbor University – Jackson Citizen-Patriot
Good Reads
St. Louis volleyball player Brooke Courter is deaf, but she and her teammates have learned to communicate well while cheering each other on – Mount Pleasant Morning Sun
Rochester Adams boys tennis coach Al Must earned his 400th victory in 32 seasons earlier this month, and for him, continuing to coach at the high school level remains an honor – Oakland Press
Frankenmuth and Millington are the fiercest of rivals and met again on the football field Friday – but with the experience of working together during a meaningful day this summer – Saginaw News
The Old Skool Classic Cross Country Race puts the “country” back in cross country, according to one of the host coaches, with two river crossings, muddy areas, a corn field and wooded trails – 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.