Today in the MHSAA: 9/5/17
September 5, 2017
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Each weekday of the school year, we break down the top headlines courtesy of Michigan’s sports media.
Today's Top 10
1. Girls Golf: Brighton finished atop a strong field at the Plymouth Invitational, winning in a tie-breaker over Saline and individual medalist Catherine Loftus (72) – Saline Post
2. Cross Country: In a rare downstate race for an Upper Peninsula team, Sault Ste. Marie’s girls finished third at the Ogemaw Heights Invitational while its boys were third behind champion Alpena – Sault Ste. Marie Evening News
3. Volleyball: After falling to Grandville to start the round-robin schedule, Grand Haven won five straight matches and its End of Summer Bash tournament – Grand Haven Tribune
4. Cross Country: Marquette’s teams swept the Dale Phillips Invitational titles, with impressive individual championships by Negaunee’s Colton Yesney and Marquette’s Ericka Asmus against strong fields – Marquette Mining Journal
5. Boys Tennis: Clarkston edged Ada Forest Hills Eastern 16-14 to win the Traverse City Invitational – Grand Haven Tribune
6. Boys Soccer: Petoskey held Division 2 power Mason to a 0-0 tie to move to 2-3-3 this fall – Petoskey News-Review
7. Cross Country: The Yale boys and Croswell-Lexington girls won the annual Port Huron Invitational championships – Port Huron Times Herald
8. Girls Golf: South Lyon has big plans after finishing third in Lower Peninsula Division 2 last season, and Elizabeth Harding is leading the charge – Observer & Eccentric
9. Boys Soccer: Buckley is having early success this fall with contributions from a number of players who have performed on the big stage – at the Breslin Center during the Basketball Finals – Traverse City Record-Eagle
10. Boys Soccer/Cross Country: We’ve published multiple stories already this school year on athletes playing multiple sports in one season – and Blissfield’s Logan Hudson does as well but with a twist; he plays multiple sports in multiple seasons – Adrian Daily Telegram
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.