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.

Today in the MHSAA: 2/5/24

By Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor

February 5, 2024

1. WRESTLING Division 2 No. 6 Three Rivers won the Wolverine Conference championship, its first league title in this sport since 2004 – Sturgis Journal

2. WRESTLING Division 4 No. 3 Union City edged No. 5 Bronson to finish a Big 8 Conference championship run – Coldwater Daily Reporter

3. WRESTLING Division 3 No. 9 Otisville LakeVille Memorial dominated in claiming the Mid-Michigan Activities Conference championship – Owosso Argus-Press

4. WRESTLING Gaylord claimed its 16th-straight Big North Conference championship – Traverse City Record-Eagle

5. WRESTLING Division 2 No. 7 Hamilton won the Ottawa-Kent Conference Blue championship, its first since 2013 – Holland Sentinel

6. WRESTLING Laingsburg earned its first Central Michigan Athletic Conference championship on the mat – Owosso Argus-Press

7. WRESTLING Division 2 No. 4 Mason won the overall Capital Area Activities Conference title – Lansing State Journal

8. BOYS SWIMMING & DIVING Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood – ranked No. 1 in Lower Peninsula Division 3 – won its first Oakland County championship – Oakland Press

9. WRESTLING Division 1 No. 2 Hartland won its third-straight Kensington Lakes Activities Association West championship – Livingston Daily Press & Argus

10. WRESTLING Jackson Northwest had four individual champions in claiming the Interstate 8 Athletic Conference team title – Jackson Citizen Patriot

Also of note …

WRESTLING Division 4 No 8 Climax-Scotts/Martin had six individual champions in claiming a Southwestern Athletic Conference team title – Battle Creek Enquirer

WRESTLING Gibraltar Carlson didn’t win the Downriver League Tournament, but clinched the overall league title – Southgate News-Herald

WRESTLING Division 2 No. 5 Monroe Jefferson, Division 3 No. 1 Dundee and Division 1 No.  3 Temperance Bedford all locked up league championships – Monroe News

WRESTLING Division 4 No. 2 St. Louis and Remus Chippewa Hills clinched outright league titles, and Clare earned a share – Mount Pleasant Morning Sun

BOYS SWIMMING & DIVING St. Clair Shores Lakeview edged 2023 champion Fraser to win the Macomb County title – Macomb Daily

HOCKEY Division 1 No. 1 Detroit Catholic Central edged Division 3 top-ranked Houghton 2-1 in the headlining matchup from the MIHL Showcase – Houghton Daily Mining Gazette

WRESTLING LeRoy Pine River won the Highland/Mid Michigan Conference Tournament – Cadillac News

BOYS BASKETBALL Benton Harbor clinched a share of the Lakeland Conference title with a 74-36 win over Dowagiac – St. Joseph Herald-Palladium

BOYS BASKETBALL Cass City clinched a share of the Greater Thumb Conference West title with a 62-60 win over Caro – Bay City Times

BOYS BOWLING/WRESTLING The Bay City Western boys bowling team and Division 2 No. 3 Bay City John Glenn wrestling team also were among the weekend’s league champions – Bay City Times

WRESTLNG Division 3 No. 2 Whitehall and No. 7 Hart were West Michigan Conference champions in their respective divisions – CatchMark SportsNet

BOYS BASKETBALL Greg Lawson II went over 1,000 career points in Davison’s 66-57 win over Grand Blanc – Mid-Michigan Now