Paying Tribute with Diamond Donation
May 14, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Rochester Adams and Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood baseball players and coaches both had loved ones on their minds when they took the field at Comerica Park earlier this month.
And they paid tribute to those loved ones over their hearts and across the backs of their jerseys.
Together, the teams raised more than $3,500 for the Coaches vs. Cancer research initiative.
Instead of its usual brown and yellow, Adams wore jerseys of light blue with a green ribbon as the middle “A” in its name across the front in honor of those suffering with lymphoma, including 2011 graduate and former standout Matt Williams.
Cranbrook-Kingswood wore dark blue jerseys with a pink ribbon as the “A” in Cranbrook and with lime green writing on the back as the Cranes remembered longtime coach Jack Sanders, who died in 2012 after also battling lymphoma.
Sanders’ was among names adorning the backs of jerseys, along with other cancer victims the players and coaches knew.
Adams won the May 1 game, 18-3. Click to read more from the Oakland Press’ Keith Dunlap, who leading up to the game detailed both Williams’ fight and Sanders’ longtime contributions.
Net finder
Lake Fenton’s Jordan Newman will finish her high school soccer career later this spring as the top goal-scorer in MHSAA girls soccer history.
The Blue Devils’ senior forward broke the career record on April 28, scoring her 169th goal against Perry to pass the mark set by Newaygo’s Jaleen Dingledine from 2004-07. Newman also is a four-year varsity player.
Click to read more on her record run from the Flint Journal's Eric Woodyard.
5 K, 1 IP
The MHSAA doesn't keep a record for most strikeouts in an inning. But if it did, there’s a great chance Brighton’s Garrett Russell would top the list.
Against Ann Arbor Pioneer on April 5, Russell struck out five batters in an inning.
Yes, five.
Here’s how:
Russell struck out the first two batters of the inning swinging, leaving one out to get. He then struck out that third batter as well, but that batter reached first base because the third strike turned into a wild pitch.
The fourth batter of the inning was the only one to not strike out – he walked, putting runners on first and second base with two outs. Those runners advanced to second and third base, respectively, on a wild pitch thrown to the fifth batter of the inning.
That fifth batter then struck out swinging (which made it four strikeouts in the inning), but that third strike turned into a passed ball – and that batter ended up on first base, loading them for the sixth hitter of the inning.
But Russell found enough for one more K, striking out that sixth hitter swinging on a 2-2 pitch.
His line for the inning: 0 hits, 0 runs, 1 bases on balls, 5 strikeouts.
Brighton went on to sweep the doubleheader 12-4 and 11-1.
Family ties
Basketball clearly runs in a pair of families who have come through Corunna High School.
This winter, brothers M.J. and Mikhail Myles both scored their 1,000th career points – M.J., a senior, on Jan. 3 and Mikhail, a junior, in the team’s District Semifinal on March 5.
On Feb. 18, senior Payton Birchmeier became the fifth player in girls program history to score her 1,000th point – despite scoring only four points as a freshman before suffering a season-ending knee injury in her first high school game. She became the first Corunna girl to score 1,000 since her sister Megan finished accomplishing the feat in 2010.
Payton Birchmeier went on to play her final three seasons also on varsity, and M.J. Myles also was a four-year varsity player. Mykhail Myles has played three on varsity with next season still to play. The Myles' stepsister Klarissa Bell this winter finished an outstanding career at Michigan State University and won the Miss Basketball Award as a senior at East Lansing High School in 2010, and stepbrother Devlin Bell also was a Trojans standout.
PHOTOS: (Top) Rochester Adams players congratulate each other during their May 1 game at Comerica Park. (Middle) The Adams' first baseman and a Cranbrook-Kingswood base runner await the next pitch. (Photos courtesy of Rochester Adams baseball.)
Field Hockey Showing Signs of Interest, Participation Boost with MHSAA Sponsorship
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
September 5, 2025
Zahid Hameed said everything has changed – and in a magnificent way.
The head field hockey coach at West Bloomfield the past three years, Hameed said there was a challenge with roster numbers and making sure there were enough players on the roster to fully compete.
With field hockey now an MHSAA-sponsored sport and not solely club status, that wasn’t the case when practice started in August.
“This year, from day one I had 20 players,” said Hameed, who said it would be a struggle to have 18 players on a roster at any point of a season in previous years. “It changed. Hopefully next year it will be maybe 30 or 40 and I can have a JV team. It will grow for sure.”
Growth is being experienced at programs throughout the Metro Detroit area now that field hockey has joined the MHSAA sports lineup, with the first Final set for Oct. 25.
Clarkston head coach Cary Exline said his program had a similar success story as it saw higher numbers once this season began.
“Last year, I had about 17 girls,” he said. “I have 25 (this year). It went from 17 to 25. That was a huge, huge jump. Now, I can run multiple drills at the same time without worrying about bodies. That’s a huge, huge positive for us.”
Athletes have certainly taken notice that field hockey is under MHSAA leadership. At some schools, that means field hockey can be part of a multiple-sport pay-to-play program instead of being a completely separate cost as a club program — and that’s having a positive effect.
“Now that it’s a sanctioned sport, it’s real easy,” said Hameed, who said he has nine freshmen on his roster who have never played the sport. “The girls can give it a try and if they like it, then that’s fine.”
For seniors around the state, it almost feels like they are living out a dream finally seeing the sport under the MHSAA umbrella.
“When I heard it was official, I was really excited,” said Clarkston senior captain Jenna Brown. “It shows that the sport is growing, and it’s nice to see more teams pop up around the area. We’ve played a couple of teams where it’s their first season. That makes me really happy that the sport is spreading.”
As a club sport, the best teams in Metro Detroit have historically been private schools such as Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood, Detroit Country Day, Bloomfield Hills Academy of the Sacred Heart, Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett and Bloomfield Hills Marian. All those programs figure to remain strong going forward due to their tradition and coaching.
Grosse Pointe South also has had success, as a public school, and MHSAA sponsorship of field hockey could really be a boon to other public schools with large enrollment bases and prominent athletic programs. Clarkston and West Bloomfield, for example, stand to get much better quickly and possibly close the gap with more historically elite programs.
No doubt, there is a lot of untapped potential in those and similar communities.
“It brings light to the program,” Exile said. “When you look at field hockey, I think it’s the No. 2 or No. 3 most popular female sport in the world. In the world, it’s great. In Michigan, it’s like ‘You do what? What is this?’ I think with it being an approved sport, it lends credence to it.”
Going forward, coaches in the area should also have an easier time introducing the sport to younger kids in their communities and building feeder programs so players are more seasoned when they reach high school.
Hameed said youth clinics he conducted over the summer had a lot more participants than in past years, which should bode well for educating players about the positives of the sport.
“It’s a dynamic sport,” Hameed said. “It’s entertaining. It’s full of skills. You need to be energetic, agile, sharp and a good decision-maker.”
So far this fall, more and more athletes are discovering the benefits of giving the sport a try.
“It’s not a huge sport as of now, but I feel like it’s getting bigger,” said West Bloomfield senior captain Hannah Jakubiak. “It’s exciting that it’s picking up.”
Keith Dunlap has served in Detroit-area sports media for more than two decades, including as a sportswriter at the Oakland Press from 2001-16 primarily covering high school sports but also college and professional teams. His bylines also have appeared in USA Today, the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the Houston Chronicle and the Boston Globe. He served as the administrator for the Oakland Activities Association’s website from 2017-2020. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Clarkston field hockey players Juliet Hardin (left) and Zoe Philbrick battle for a ball during warmups before a game Wednesday against West Bloomfield. (Middle) West Bloomfield players line up for the start of introductions. (Photos by Keith Dunlap.)