AD Inducted to National Hall of Fame
May 7, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Winter gets hectic so quickly that we’re forced to save some intriguing items that come our way for a sunnier day – and that day is today.
Following are news, notes and a few key links collected over the last few months, including the national Hall of Fame induction of a longtime Michigan athletic director, local recognition for another and statewide acclaim for a group of students putting their video production equipment to good use benefiting all.
Ann Arbor AD Honored Nationally
Former Ann Arbor Huron athletic director Jane Bennett was among five inducted into the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association Hall of Fame in December.
Bennett served 26 years as a teacher, coach, athletic director and assistant principal in Michigan before spending the last decade as a principal at two schools in Montana. She served as athletic director at Huron for 15 years through 2002-03. The NIAAA reported that during her final decade in that position, participation in athletics doubled.
Bennett, who received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Michigan, began her career at Huron in 1977 as varsity softball coach and became a math teacher and the co-director of athletics a year later. She coached the softball team 14 seasons before moving into the full-time athletic director position. Bennett was co-founder of the Michigan High School Softball Coaches Association and served as MHSSCA president from 1982-87.
Among other achievements at Huron, Bennett was a leader in a successful campaign to gain voter approval of a $60 million bond package, which included $20 million to improve and expand athletic facilities. She also developed curriculum for an annual varsity captains/head coaches leadership training program and composed handbooks/guidebooks for coaches, athletes and parents.
Bennett also was a valuable contributor to the Michigan Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association and the NIAAA. She was president of the MIAAA in 1993-94 and a state conference speaker on several occasions. Bennett also served in various NIAAA leadership positions including on the committee that developed the Leadership Training Institute in 1996.
Bennett was named MIAAA Athletic Director of the Year in 1998 and received its State Award of Merit in 1997. She received the MHSAA’s Women in Sports Leadership Award in 1995 and was inducted into the MHSSCA Hall of Fame in 1995. Prior to her selection to the NIAAA Hall of Fame, Bennett was honored with the NIAAA Distinguished Service Award in 1998 and the NIAAA Thomas E. Frederick Award of Excellence in 2000. In 2005, she was inducted into the National Council of Secondary School Athletic Directors Hall of Fame, having served as its president in 2003 and been selected as its Athletic Director of the Year in 1998.
PSL's Ward: 'Pillar' of Detroit Athletics
Alvin Ward, the executive director of athletics for the Detroit Public School League and a member of the MHSAA Representative Council, received a 2014 Pillar in the Community Award in April from the Coast II Coast All-Stars, a Detroit-based pro basketball team that plays in the American Basketball Association.
Ward has served as a teacher, assistant principal and principal as well for Detroit Public Schools, and directs programs with a combined 500 coaches and 4,500 athletes.
Linked up
- This winter, the MHSAA Representative Council adopted a number of football practice rules changes aimed at improving player acclimatization at the start of fall and reducing head trauma and injuries. The Adrian Daily Telegram’s Doug Donnelly got responses from a number of coaches from that area of the state; click to find out why they feel these changes are important.
- Port Huron Times Herald writer Paul Costanzo let people know about our Student Advisory Council through the experience of Marlette’s Connor Thomas, one of our juniors and a great contributor this school year.
Power of Awareness
The Kimberly Anne Gillary Foundation works to educate Michigan schools on sudden cardiac arrest and train personnel in CPR and the use of an AED (automated external defibrillator). The video below teaches us again about the importance of awareness.
Saginaw Heritage was awarded $5,000 in April as the winner of the Gillary Foundation’s High School AED Contest. Students were asked to create a 3-minute video emphasizing the importance of Michigan high schools being adequately prepared to respond to a sudden cardiac arrest or related event on school property.
Randy and Sue Gillary created the foundation after their 15-year-old daughter Kimberly – an athlete at Troy Athens – died after suffering sudden cardiac arrest in 2000. The contest judges were Kimberly’s sisters Emily Kucinich, Jennifer Gregroy and Katie Gillary.
As of April 1, the Gillary Foundation had raised $1.2 million and donated 650 AEDs to schools – with three lives having been saved with donated AEDs. For more, click www.kimberlysgift.org.
Country Day Bounces Back from Regional Disappointment to Repeat as Finals Champ
June 1, 2025
ANN ARBOR – Advantage Detroit Country Day – at least for now.
That’s the kind of rivalry the Yellowjackets have formed with Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood as they’ve combined to win the last 15 Lower Peninsula Division 3 girls tennis championships.
Just this season, the pair of powerhouses tied in a dual match April 16 before Cranbrook won the Regional by two points two weeks ago – and Country Day took back the lead in the never-ending race by clinching the latest LPD3 Finals title by two points Saturday at University of Michigan.
The Yellowjackets finished the weekend tournament with 34 points to Cranbrook’s 32, losing all four head-to-head flight championship matchups to the Cranes but banking enough points elsewhere to emerge with their second-straight Finals title.
Freshman Karishma Vakhariya’s flight clincher at No. 3 singles and junior Helen Benjamin’s at No. 4 put the finishing touches on the latest triumph.
“It’s always close between us and Cranbrook,” said Benjamin, who repeated as a flight winner after taking the title at No. 3 a year ago. “The cheering gets a little competitive, the matches get competitive. I mean, it’s been a rivalry forever.”
Benjamin was top-seeded at No. 4 and clinched her flight with a 6-3, 6-2, win over Holland Christian sophomore Iyla Holmes.
Vakhariya worked through more of a challenge in her No. 3 decider, defeating Bloomfield Hills Marian senior Anya Nix 6-3 in the first set before falling 6-1 in the second and coming back to win the third set 6-0.
“I just tried to not get upset, at least on the outside, because I know that definitely when your opponent can see that you’re mad it can affect the entire match and make you lose yourself,” Vakhariya said. “(It was matter of) doing what I did in the first set and not the second one, and whatever her weaknesses trying to hit to that instead of just getting upset and hitting wherever.”
Country Day’s other flight championship came at No. 4 doubles, where senior Katherine Chen and freshman Grace Kalkanis pulled out some of the most important points of the weekend. Entering as the fourth seed, they won their championship match 6-1, 6-1, over second-seeded juniors Sage Gabriel-Menegay and Brooklyn Angel of Chelsea. But perhaps more significant was Chen and Kalkanis’ semifinal win over the top-seeded Cranbrook duo of senior Katelyn Dubrowsky and sophomore Brianna Giudici.
“What happened after Regionals, I’d say was a little bit of fuel for us,” Country Day coach Nicholas Fiaschetti said. “The past couple of weeks, we’ve just been on it every single day at our practices. We came out here and handled our nerves, and from there everybody was amazing.”
Cranbrook won four flight championships, let by top-seeded senior Chloe Qin’s 6-0, 6-0, win at No. 1 singles over second-seeded Country Day senior Sophia Grzesiak, last season’s No. 1 champion. Qin hadn’t played high school tennis the last two seasons and had finished as part of a flight runner-up at No. 1 doubles as a freshman.
“I think I played really solid, moving all over, doing my best and figuring things out,” Qin said. “Even though there was a little bit of adversity throughout, I felt like we played a fair match and played super solid, and I think as a senior it was a really good win for me and I’m really glad I could close it out. … It’s feels like a full-circle moment. I’m just proud of myself and happy with how I stuck to my gameplan and got it done as efficiently as possible.”
Cranes freshman Caroline Liu carried her top seed at No. 2 singles through to the championship, with seniors Ava Clogg and Chiara Martella at No. 1 doubles and seniors Sophia Kouza and Madeline Day at No. 2 doubles achieving the same.
Bloomfield Hills Marian sophomores Stella Glorio and Lexa Hindo also carried their top seed to the title at No. 3 doubles.
PHOTOS (Top) Detroit Country Day’s Helen Benjamin returns a volleyball during her No. 4 singles match Saturday. (Middle) Cranbrook’s Caroline Liu follows through on a forehand during her No. 2 singles finale. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)