Timing Just Right for D2-Winning Cranes

June 7, 2014

By Mark Meyer
Special to Second Half

EAST LANSING – Timing. So critical for a successful golf swing, even moreso for a boys golf team trying to win its second MHSAA title in three years.

Everything came together this weekend about as well as it could for Bloomfield Hill Cranbrook-Kingswood, as the Cranes fashioned a two-day total of 618 to win the Lower Peninsula Division 2 championship by five shots over Ada Forest Hills Eastern (623) at Forest Akers West.

Junior Dylan Deogun led Cranbrook-Kingswood with rounds 72 and 75, which placed him third individually behind senior medalist Austin Carter of Croswell-Lexington (72-72-144) and junior runner-up Nick Carlson of Hamilton (75-71-146).

“We’ve been targeting this all year – it’s been a growing and learning process,” said second-year Cranes coach John Minnich. “Each time we played an event earlier this season, we never had four really good scores.

“As the season progressed, the guys started shooting good tournament scores. We finally put it together at the Regional where we had our best score of the year. It was one of those things where we were able to target and peak at the right time. We have only senior, so we hope to be back again next year with a strong team.”

Dylan’s younger brother, freshman Devin Deogun, shot the Cranes’ low score of the day, 74 – eight shots better than his opening round Friday. Juniors Todd Fridline (76-80-156) and Mason Schultz (79-81-160) earned praise from Minnich for not letting some tough early holes take their toll on day two.

“I’m very proud of the way we kept it together out there,” Minnich said. “We had some early bogeys and the round could have gone the wrong way really quick. But I told the guys it’s not a sprint; it’s a marathon.

“Both Todd Fridline (80) and Mason Schultz (81) brought it home for us, playing the last five or six holes in even par. That was key for us.”

Dylan Deogun wasn’t thrilled with his round but did mention a couple of key shots of his own.

“Birdies at 12 and 14 were big, but I gave them away with bogeys at 17 and 18,” Deogun said. “But overall, (I’m) pretty happy with the way I played.

“Last year (finishing third) was a disappointment for us, so it’s good to be back at the top again.”

Dearborn Divine Child (624) finished third, one stroke behind Forest Hills Eastern. Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern (626), Grand Rapids Christian (629) and Marshall (637) completed the top six while DeWitt (640), East Lansing (646), Pontiac Notre Dame Prep and Detroit Country Day tied for ninth at 647.

Tyler Olson of New Boston Huron (73-75-148), Rishi Patel of Country Day (74-74-148) and Zach Robbins of Forest Hills Eastern (73-75) tied for fourth individually, ahead of East Lansing’s Joe Croom (76-73-149) and Grand Rapids Christian’s Ben Van Scoyk (79-72-151). A fivesome tied for ninth at 152: Campbell Crosby of East Grand Rapids (76-76), Zach Rosendale of St. Johns (76-76), Brandon Hawkins of Marshall (78-74), Tristan Brunst of Mason (73-79) and Geoff Croley of DeWitt (74-78).

“The guys are really happy,” said Minnich, the head pro at Indianwood Golf and Country Club. “It’s a great way to end the season, playing well in beautiful weather – after having gone through a wet, cold spring.

“And they learned how to keep the big number off the card. That’s something we’ve talked about all year. Bogeys won’t hurt you, but you can’t make triples and a bunch of doubles. Our course management – making smart shots instead of gambling – made a big difference for us.”

Click for full results.

PHOTOS: (Top) Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood poses with its MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 2 trophy at Forest Akers West. (Middle) Croswell-Lexington’s Austin Carter clears his ball from under a tree on the way to taking the individual championship. (Click to see more at HighSchoolsSportsScene.com.)

Powered by Transplanted Heart, Pioneer's Williams Relishing Return to Golf Team

By Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com

May 16, 2025

Brady Williams knew something was wrong.

Southeast & BorderThe then-freshman at Ann Arbor Pioneer was in class when he texted his parents that something wasn’t right. His mom, Tiffany, rushed to the school, got Brady into the car and drove straight to the emergency room in Ann Arbor.

His father, Greg, arrived a few minutes later.

“He was in heart failure,” said one of the doctors who was caring for Brady, then 14.

When he went home from C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital nearly six weeks later, Brady was the proud owner of a new heart.

“It was really random,” Williams recalled. “One day I wasn’t feeling good at school, so I left and went to the doctors. They kept me for a couple of days and told me I needed to get a heart transplant.”

It’s been an incredible journey for the Pioneer sophomore, who returned to school last fall and is now on the Pioneers junior varsity golf team.

“I can do basically everything now,” he says. “I’m back up to normal for sure.”

Normal is something Williams had rarely known. Even as a young boy he would occasionally get tired from doing simple things. As the family learned to deal with it, they decided at one point to seek more medical advice. After genetic testing, at the age of 7 he was diagnosed with a rare neuromuscular disease, known as limb-girdle muscular dystrophy.

“It basically makes the muscles weak, especially your heart,” he said.

As he got older, he was would sometimes struggle with the effects.

“We carried an AED (automated external defibrillator) with us everywhere,” Tiffany Williams said.

He tried playing sports, including basketball, and golfed regularly. In the months leading up to the heart transplant, though, Brady had slowed down.

“I was playing basketball and golfing four times a week,” Brady said. “Slowly I stopped playing basketball and even golf because I was getting really tired.”

Under the care of Dr. Mark Russell, Dr. Aaron Stern – a professor of pediatric cardiology at University of Michigan – and Dr. Kurt Robert Schumacher, the medical director for the pediatric heart transplant program at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital, Brady at first had a temporary device installed in his heart, but it was quickly determined that a heart transplant was needed – and fast.

“They didn’t think it would be this bad, but it ended up hurting my heart so bad that I had to get a new one,” Williams said.

After the decision was made to move forward with the heart transplant, he waited only two days for the new heart.

“They put me at the top of the list, and they got it there quick, thankfully,” Williams said.

His passion for sports has always been a driving force. A football fanatic, he is a die-hard Cleveland Browns fan. His favorite quarterback, former Browns signal-caller Baker Mayfield, sent him a video message while he was recovering. Former Eastern Michigan University and current Las Vegas Raiders star Maxx Crosby also reached out to him.

In the hospital, Williams was glued to the television.

“Everyone took to Brady,” Tiffany Williams said. “He helped everyone with fantasy football teams while he was in the hospital, plus Michigan won the national championship. So that was a good year.”

His recovery included several months of physical therapy and doctor visits. At first, Brady had to attend school virtually, but returned to the halls of Pioneer in the fall.

“I feel like honestly better than I ever have,” Williams said. “This is a really good heart, a lot better than the one I was born with. This is like 100 percent. My old one, I never lived at like a 100-percent level. It was always low.

“I don’t even notice anything. It’s just normal all of the time.”

This spring he was cleared to golf after a physical. He is able to use a cart during his matches and tournaments, something he said helps him a lot.

“This is what I really wanted – just to join the team and get back to how I used to be – hanging out with friends and making new ones,” Brady said. “That’s the best part about being on a team.”

Being part of a team was at one point something Brady didn’t think he would get to experience. He knows how fortunate he is to have that opportunity again.

“I realize that everything can get taken away from you easily,” he said. “One second you can be at the highest point and the next you can be at the lowest. I’m definitely at the highest right now after making the golf team, being on it and having a lot of fun with it.”

Doug DonnellyDoug Donnelly has served as a news and sports reporter at the Adrian Daily Telegram and the Monroe News for 30 years, including 10 years as city editor in Monroe. He's written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. He is now publisher and editor of The Blissfield Advance, a weekly newspaper. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.