Oak Park Sprints to 4th-Straight Team Title Win, Zielinski Rebounds for Winning Finish
By
Steve Vedder
Special for MHSAA.com
May 30, 2026
ROCKFORD – It would have been the perfect time for Lorelai Zielinski to toss her cards on the table and walk away.
After suffering a crushing disqualification Saturday in the discus, a disastrous development that ensured she wouldn't repeat her dream of defending her Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals title in that event as well as the shot put, Zielinski could have called it a season.
Instead, the Traverse City Central junior mentally gathered herself by taking several slow walks around the shot put area, listening to some music and generally clearing her head.
"Just tried to keep calm in the moment," she said. "I didn't dwell on what was done."
So instead of falling off a mental cliff, Zielinski went out and captured the shot put with a toss of 48-6¼, two feet farther than the rest of the field.
"I had worked so hard to get better," she said. "But it was a mental battle. I just had to compose myself and get ready for the shot."
While Zielinski had to overcome her mental roadblocks, the Oak Park girls had to overcome their own adversity as well – but employed the same formula they used to win the last three Division 1 titles and claim their 10th over the last 12 years: power in the sprints.
Oak Park finished with 61 points to 48 for runner-up Detroit Cass Tech and 28.5 for third-place East Kentwood. West Bloomfield was fourth with 28. The Knights took firsts in the 1,600 and 800 relays, seconds in the 400 relay, open 100 and 400, a third in the 300 hurdles and a fourth in the 200.
Put it all together and it was business as usual for the team, coach Brandon Jiles said.
"Today was a little tough because we had battles with Cass Tech and East Kentwood," he said. "We had a few tough breaks, but when bad things happen you pick yourself up. The result is you deal with adversity."
Because the team has only two seniors, Jiles said Oak Park had to rely on a handful of younger athletes who were mainstays on the 2025 championship team, including junior Nevaeh Burns, who while not winning the 400 for a third straight time did post one of team's highest individual finishes with a second in the race. Teammate Aubrey Douglas was second in the 100.
"We had to spread things out," Jiles said. "Even though we were the favorite, we knew it would be tough. We do have a lot of experience from last year, but it's always tough to see what a young team will do. Twice we've gone for four in a row and didn't do it. This year we did."
Senior Kamryn Tatum of West Bloomfield won the 100 (11.74) while finishing second behind Malise Brown of Detroit Cass Tech in the 200 (23.13). Brown's time was an all-Finals record and sixth-best in the country this spring.
Tatum said she actually prefers running the longer 200-meter dash over the 100. She entered Saturday as a three-time Finals champ in the 200 while also winning the 100 a year ago.
"I hate the 100," Tatum said. "You have to get out strong to win the 100 because it's shorter. But I do what I do, and it's nice to win. My sophomore year was hard because I was injured, but now I was pretty much healthy."
East Lansing freshman Cayla Hawkins pulled one of the biggest upsets at the meet when she edged Oak Park's Burns in the 400. Hawkins had a 52.89 to creep past Burns' mark of 53.63.
"I know her from AAU," Hawkins said of Burns. "I was kind of shocked with myself, but I really pushed for this. I've had my days this year, kind of in and out. We call it "deep water," which means we save some of the hardest workouts for leading up to the state meet so we know what our bodies are capable of."
Richland Gull Lake junior Lane Isom won the 800 (2:11.06) after finishing just ninth a year ago. She was the best of a strong field which featured seven runners separated by less than three seconds. Isom had run a 2:09 a week ago.
"I knew I could run a fast time," she said. "It just depended on what would happen. I just went out and tried to do my best."
Grand Ledge's Katie Blue was a two-time champion in events with little in common. The Comet senior won the pole vault (14-0) as well as the 300 hurdles (43.14). The pole vault was an all-Finals record after her previous best was a 13-10 two weeks ago.
"My main goal was to go 14-feet," said Blue, who missed on her first attempt at three heights. "It just depends on the person. If you're mentally strong, you can bounce back from that. You can't let it get in your head because that just makes the next two or three attempts harder."
Other individual champs were Natasza Dudek in the 3,200 (10:15.25), Elliana Neuer of Hartland in the 1,600 (4:51.73), Kyleigh Peacock of Troy in the long jump (19-1), Olivia Latunski of Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central (138-2) in the discus, Detroit Cass Tech's Laila Hawkins in the 100 hurdles (14.15) and Alannah Love of Lansing Waverly in the high jump (5-0).
West Bloomfield won the 400 relay (46.88) and Ann Arbor Skyline took the 3,200 (9:05.75). Clarkston’s Allison Thurman (100, 400) and Fenton’s Molly Katic (200) finished first in adaptive events.
PHOTOS (Top) Oak Park's Nevaeh Burns bursts forward after taking a handoff during for her team's winning 1,600 relay Saturday. (Middle) Detroit Cass Tech's Malise Brown, middle, crosses the finish line in record time in the 100. (Click for more from John Brabbs, Carter Sherline and Jamie McNinch/RunMichigan.com.)
Blissfield's Miller Set for Senior Success After 3 Junior-Year Finals Trips
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
August 15, 2023
BLISSFIELD – Last fall, June Miller raced for an MHSAA cross country title at Michigan International Speedway. During the winter she played in the Division 3 Basketball Final at the Breslin Center. In the spring, she competed at the Lower Peninsula Division 3 track & field championships in Kent City.
As she embarks on her senior year at Blissfield Community Schools in southeast Michigan, Miller isn’t concerned about an encore.
“I don’t worry about topping my junior season,” she said. “I don’t feel the need to. I’ll fight for it to the best of my ability, but if I don’t make it that’s okay. There were a lot of factors that went into last year, and I can’t control all of them this year.
“I’ll leave my best out there and know that I gave it my all, and in the end that’s the true accomplishment. If it takes me that far or further, then great. If not, that’s okay.”
Miller’s remarkable run to MHSAA Finals in three sports remains even more impressive when considering she had eight goals and five assists playing defense for the Royals soccer team.
“Shows up to work, busts her tail every practice, every game,” said Blissfield girls basketball coach Ryan Gilbert. “Never have to worry about June Miller.”
Miller is as steady an athlete as they come, never getting too high or too low in pressure situations. In basketball, Gilbert said Miller never met a shot she didn’t like. Miller started all 29 games last season, leading the team in 3-pointers.
Gilbert said Miller is even-keeled.
“It takes a while to get into the ‘June Miller circle,’ but I’m almost in,” he said. “This is her senior year; this is my year. She’s very funny when you get to know her and has a brilliant mind.
“She wants to win over everything,” Gilbert said.
Miller wasn’t the fastest runner on the cross country team last fall – that spot would belong to her younger sister, Hope. June has no problem with that.
“I love running with my sister,” she said. “She’s an amazing and incredibly kind person. Her dedication to running inspires me and keeps me fighting for it. We train together sometimes and she’s the one that pushes me, and I love that.
“I always knew she’d be faster than me someday, and I couldn’t be prouder of how fast she’s become and how much she’s achieved. (People might) think I’d hold some resentment for her beating me while I’m older, but she’s lived in my shadow for years and I’m so glad she’s been able to find her place that she can dominate.”
Blissfield is eyeing a big season in cross country after winning a Regional and just missing the top 10 at the Final a year ago. The Miller sisters are a big reason for the giddiness.
“I’m ready to leave it all out there,” Miller said. “It’s my senior season, and I want to go out strong. I think the end goal for all of us is to really push it this season and improve with each race so by the time we hit Regionals we’re in the best shape physically and mentally so we can leave it all on the course to get to states again.”
Because of her work schedule this summer, Miller missed some of the team workouts but was able to get the details from her sister and went out on her own time and trained to build up her mileage in preparation for the season.
“I think the experience from last year will give us something to fight for,” she said. “It allows us to look at the season with our end goal being the state meet. It gives us a passion and something to fight for.”
Blissfield cross country coach Ryan Bills called Miller a strong competitor.
“She is fun kid,” he said. “You never know which June you’re going to get – funny, chatty June or serious, no-nonsense June. Either way she always gives it her all during competition, which is why she has seen so much success the past year.”
The four-sport athlete spent the first couple of weeks of summer refreshing her body before kicking it into high gear.
She did take some time to reflect on all the places she got to play and compete last year and is grateful to be part of a team that helped her reach those places.
“It was a unique experience,” she said. “When I’m playing basketball or running track and cross country, I’m not focused on where I am physically – instead I’m in my head focused on what I need to do.
“Once you get to someplace, you stop thinking about getting there and you move on to the next step of being there and doing what you need to there.”
Miller is one of the top students in her class. She’s currently trying to decide whether she wants to pursue playing soccer in college. She wants to major in business and minor in sustainability, eventually getting a master’s degree in architecture.
“I want to be a sustainable design architect,” she said, “who can better the world through the art of architecture.”
Miller’s future looks bright, as does the outlook for this athletic year. In all three sports for which she reached the Finals last year, the Royals have enough returning talent to make lengthy runs again.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Miller said, about four days before the first cross country event of the season. “I want to make it to all those state tournaments again, but I want to do it with my teammates because they’re the ones that make it memorable and something to remember forever.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a sports and news reporter and city editor over 25 years, writing for the Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky, Ohio from 1992-1995, the Monroe Evening News from 1995-2012 and the Adrian Daily Telegram since 2013. He's also written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Blissfield’s June Miller (750) races during a cross country meet last fall. (Middle) Miller pulls up for a jumper during last season’s basketball postseason run. (Cross country photo by Deloris Clark-Osborne; basketball photo by Gary Sullivan.)