Cooper Closing In On Fantastic Finish
By
Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half
May 2, 2017
OAK PARK – As good as he is as a runner, Cameron Cooper understands he can’t do it alone.
Running one last high school season guided by knowledgeable veteran coaches and with a friend to help set their team's pace, the Oak Park senior is sprinting toward a captivating conclusion to his high school career and with more exciting possibilities ahead.
Cooper, 18, helped the Knights win the 2016 MHSAA Division 1 title, the program’s first boys track and field championship since 1972, as he placed first in the 800-meter run with a time of 1:51.68.
He then became just the second runner to go under 1:49.5 indoor when, while running with the Motor City Track Club, he placed first at the New Balance Nationals (March 10-12) held in New York City. His time of 1:49.46 eclipsed his personal-best of 1:49.7. Robbie Andrew of New Jersey owns the indoor record of 1:49.21 run in 2009.
Minutes after running the second-fastest time in the half mile, Cooper said he thought he could run faster – and he believes a time of 1:46 is attainable now that he’s competing outdoors.
“Outdoors, you can run faster,” Cooper said, noting there are only two turns on outdoor tracks instead of four at smaller indoor venues.
Although his times don’t reflect this outdoor advantage yet, Cooper is finding his fastest stride as the season’s most important meets draw near. Cooper has won all of his races this spring – individually or as part of a relay – and his top 800 time of 1:51.79 is only a tenth of a second slower than last season’s MHSAA championship performance.
Mentoring and hard work
Cooper began running competitively at the age of 8 with the Detroit PAL (Police Athletic League). He ran the sprints before his coach, Reggie Osborne, moved him to the 400 and 800 runs at age 10.
“When I was younger, it was way easier,” Cooper said. “In high school now, it’s more competitive. There (are) better runners.”
Cooper said there’s no secret to his success. Sure he’s a gifted runner, but it’s the hours of training that enable him to compete at such a high level.
His coaches at Oak Park – longtime Detroit Public School League coach Bob Lynch, now in his third season at Oak Park, and his protégé, Brandon Jiles – both work with Cooper almost daily. Officially, Lynch is the boys track coach and Jiles coaches the girls team, but in essence they team to coach both squads.
Jiles won the Class A Finals 800 in 1999 at Detroit Mumford with Lynch as his coach. Mumford won the Class A team title that season. The Mustangs would win three more MHSAA Finals titles (Division 1, 2002-04) with Lynch.
Then there’s Chris Richards, a Detroit Pershing graduate, who works with the sprinters on both teams. Although Richards doesn’t work directly with Cooper, his presence allows Lynch to spend more time with a runner like Cooper.
“Lynch’s specialty is the sprints,” Richards said. “I don’t know where, all of a sudden, he became an expert on the half mile and mile.”
That was said partly in jest. Lynch is highly regarded in the sport and has worked well with all athletes in running events whether they’ve been hurdlers, sprinters or distance runners.
Lynch has coached many greats, Olympian Marshall Dill for one, and he said Cooper is one of the best he’s had.
“It’s the work he puts in,” Lynch said. “Whatever I make him do, he does it. But I have to push him. His older brother (Corey Jones) influenced him. (Jones) was decent as an age-group runner, but he wasn’t a great runner. He worked hard to be where he was at.”
Jones ran for Lynch when he was the head coach at Detroit Mumford. Five years older than Cooper, Jones continues to have a positive influence on his brother.
“He wasn’t that talented,” Cooper said of his brother. “He’d run a lot on his own. Just seeing his work ethic made me want to run. He still works harder than I do. I do a lot of stuff on my own, too, like pushups and stuff. Corey had to work harder just to get his times. I have more talent, so I don’t work as hard.”
Even so, Cooper, who also placed fourth in the 1,600 at the Division 1 Final a year ago, understands he needs to work harder to reach his goals.
It’s not easy. When you add that he’s also one of the state’s top milers, Cooper’s work regiment can be overwhelming. To train for the 800 he’ll run 400 meters, then 600 meters, then 200. Then he’ll repeat that sequence. When training for the 1,600, he’ll run 1,200 meters, 1,000 meters and, again, repeat that. By week’s end he’ll run 15 miles or more, not counting what he does in meets.
Last weekend at the Jackson Invitational, Cooper ran the 800 in that season-best 1:51.79, one of the top times in the state. He also ran the 1,600 in 4:18, also one of the state’s top times this spring. Cooper is also the anchor on the 1,600 and 3,200 relay teams, and both ran well in Jackson according to Jiles.
Running mate
Dewan Hawthorne is another senior on a veteran team. Hawthorne is a hurdler and also runs the first leg on the 3,200 relay. Hawthorne qualified for the Division 1 Finals in both hurdle events and placed ninth in the 300 low hurdles last season. Cooper and Hawthorne, along with sprinter KeVeon Clark, are the three athletes Lynch is counting on to set the standard for the other runners – and to score points.
Cooper and Hawthorne feed off of one another and are often seen running laps together in practice.
“Our team is stronger this year,” Hawthorne said. “We have some new guys, but me and Cameron are the big two. We both run cross country, and that helps us going into the indoor season. When the outdoor (season) comes, we’re ready.”
This season’s important meets are coming on quickly. Oak Park will host the Oakland Activities Association league meet on May 11, and the Knights will compete at the North Farmington Regional on May 19. Qualifiers will compete at the Division 1 Finals at East Kentwood on June 3.
After that, Cooper and Hawthorne plan on competing in college, and neither has made a firm commitment to a university. Cooper has narrowed his choices to Clemson, Florida, Louisiana State, Oregon and Texas A&M. Hawthorne is deciding between Michigan State and Morgan State.
Tom Markowski is a columnist and directs website coverage for the State Champs! Sports Network. He previously covered primarily high school sports for the The Detroit News from 1984-2014, focusing on the Detroit area and contributing to statewide coverage of football and basketball. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Oak Park's Cameron Cooper runs his leg of the 3,200 relay during a tri-meet against Royal Oak and Ferndale this season. (Middle) Dewan Hawthorne (left) and Cooper. (Top photo courtesy of Darrell Washington.)
North Branch Cousins Carry on Family Tradition with Record-Setting Throws
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
April 16, 2025
Aubree Deshetsky wasn’t able to be there last week when her cousin, Eli Bickel, broke the 30-year-old North Branch discus record.
She was there, however, when the former record holder, her dad Daniel Deshetsky, got the call.
“I was with my dad at a volleyball tournament in Louisville,” Aubree Deshetsky said. “We wanted (Eli) to break the record. It was cool to see him do that.”
Bickel not only knocked his uncle off the Broncos’ record board with his throw of 160 feet, 4 inches on April 11 at Davison, he joined Aubree as the school’s all-time leaders in the event. She had thrown 131-5 two days earlier, breaking her own school record.
The similarities go well beyond that. Both have committed to Division I universities in other sports. Deshetsky will be playing volleyball at Wofford (South Carolina), while Bickel has committed to play football at Michigan State.
And they’re both still juniors.
“I think for both of them, they’re not done,” North Branch athletic director and throwing coach Al Margrif said. “They’re both really motivated to be able to make their best marks this year. Eli, he puts in a lot of study. He watches a lot of film. He has a cousin that he talks to that’s a (collegiate) throws coach. He’s more technical and a student of discus. Aubree, she’s a super-fast learner. She’s just so athletic, and it just comes out so much.”
Deshetsky is a two-time Finals champion in volleyball, winning titles her freshman and sophomore seasons. She’s also a returning all-state thrower, having taken fifth in the shot put and sixth in the discus at the Lower Peninsula Division 2 Finals a year ago.
That’s despite never really being solely focused on throwing. During her freshman year, she ran the 200, 400 and 800 meters, multiple relays and also high jumped along with her throwing events.
As a sophomore, she cut back on some of those races and the high jump, but was part of North Branch’s 400-meter relay team, which qualified for the Division 2 Finals.
And all along, she’s been playing high-level club volleyball, which takes her around the country.
“I kind of (started throwing) because my dad threw in high school,” she said. “It’s just something my family has done. I was really a big high jumper and 800 runner in middle school and early high school, but once volleyball ramped up more, it was harder to train for those, so I focused more on the throwing side. I got serious into discus last year. But my coach, he literally puts us in events at the meets to get us the most points, so I just do whatever he asks and hope for the best.”
She threw 127-1 at the Blue Water Area Conference championship meet a year ago to claim the school record. That came last May, so to be well ahead of that right now in early April is a good sign for what she wants to accomplish this season.
“I was actually very surprised,” she said. “That meet was my first time throwing outdoors this year. We’ve just been practicing inside, but something that’s helped this year, our school has these foam rings and with rubber discs, I can basically do a full throw into a divider in the gym. But I honestly did not expect to throw that far. I’m kind of aiming for the 140 mark this year. I think starting out at 131 is a good starting point.”
Bickel, who will play on the offensive line at MSU, has been more focused on throwing since middle school. He started tagging along to throwing practices when his sister Natasha, a 2023 North Branch graduate who was Deshetsky’s volleyball teammate, began competing in high school, and realized pretty quickly he had a future in the sport. So much so that he originally thought throwing could be his path to becoming a college athlete.
All along, he had his uncle’s record in his sights.
“It’s been a goal of mine,” Bickel said. “I knew I could do it. Last year was a frustrating year, because I hit that mark so many times in practice, but I never could in a meet. This was my first meet this year – I got cleared on Tuesday (after recovering from a torn meniscus), then the next day I threw 151 and felt good. Then Friday came and my first two throws, I was over-excited, but my next throw, I really connected.”
Bickel is a four-sport athlete at North Branch, as he wrestled and played basketball this winter. Even though he did get injured in January, he said the MSU staff has been supportive of him continuing to branch out.
“They actually encouraged it,” Bickel said. “They wanted people who could stay moving and be athletic on the offensive line.”
His football commitment could mean this is his final track season, however, as there’s a chance he will enroll early at MSU. That put some more urgency into breaking that record this season and getting back to the Division 2 Finals to make up for a disappointing finish a year ago.
He’s certainly on track to do that, as his record-breaking throw is currently the best in Division 2 this spring.
The best throw for Division 2 girls, meanwhile, belongs to Deshetsky.
It’s fitting for cousins who have had simultaneous success for so long.
“Our family is very close together,” Bickel said. “We actually do 4-H in the summer, and they show pigs out of our barn. I go to every one of her volleyball games that I can make it to. On the track side of things, there are times on a Saturday afternoon where I’ll ask her if she wants to go practice throwing, and she’ll do it.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Cousins Aubree Deshetsky, left, and Eli Bickel take a photo together during a successful day last season at the Goodrich Invitational. (Middle) Deshetsky unwinds during a discus throw. (Below) Bickel holds up his discus and shot put. (Photos courtesy of the North Branch athletic department.)