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.)
Record-Setting Sutherland Focused on Final Goals as Glen Lake Career Winds Down
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
May 9, 2025
All that’s left in a stellar athletic career for Colebrook Sutherland is a sprint to the finish line.
There isn’t much he hasn’t done for Maple City Glen Lake. But the four-sport standout and record-setting distance runner does have a few things he’d yet like to accomplish before commencements June 1.
For starters, he’d like to lead his team to a Regional championship next week at East Jordan and maybe set another school record.
But topping his list is to win an individual championship at the Lower Peninsula Division 4 Finals on May 31 at Hudsonville Baldwin Middle School.
“That’s for sure a goal,” Glen Lake track coach Jason Bradford said. “Any sport the does, he does well. From fall tennis and cross country and then basketball and now track, he’s just one of those athletes that can do anything.”
Sutherland is going into next week’s Regional as the school record holder in four events. One record – in the 800-meter run – was set this year; he ran a 1:57.61 at the Bruce Garland Invitational. The other three were set last year.
Sutherland ran a 4:25.60 to set the 1,600 record and finish fourth at the LPD4 Finals last June. He entered the record books in the 3,200 last year, too, with a 9:50.9 at the Northwest Conference championships. He’s also a member of the school’s 3,200 relay record-setting team along with Dylan Bixby, Dylan Cundiff and Abraham Feeney.
Sutherland had five school records on his mind when this season started. Actually, he’s been thinking about those five since the end of his sophomore year.
With the help of distance coaches George Drown and Jim Harrelson, Sutherland has only the 400 school record left on that list. The 400 belongs to Finn Hogan, who set it at 49.68 seconds in 2021, and Sutherland has clocked a 51.79 but may not run the race again this season. The Lakers have only one more meet before the Regional – this weekend’s Frankfort Invitational.
“I was thinking about five, but I think I want to just focus on the 800 run and continue to improve that instead of using all my time trying to get another,” Sutherland said. “I’d rather try to win states in the 800.”
While Hogan, too, continues to own four school records, Sutherland also now has been part of a coveted and long-sought team accomplishment. He led the Lakers to their first Northwest Conference track & field championship earlier this week, which also was high among Sutherland’s goals for the season as the conference has been dominated by Benzie Central and Kingsley over the years.
Sutherland ran away with the conference championships in the 800 and 1,600 to lead the Lakers, who were followed by Benzie Central, Frankfort, Leland, Buckley, Brethren and Onekama.
Also helping lead the way in the Lakers’ conference title pursuit was Boden Fisher, who won the 100-meter and long jump championships and finished second in the 200, which was won by his teammate Nolan Bretzke. Jacob Plamondon won the high jump for the Lakers, topping the bar at 6 feet, and Dominic Stein won the discus.
The Lakers also won three relay titles. Samuel Dykstra, Hunter Cox, Fisher, Daniels, Noah Scott, Cox, Liam Palmer, Feeney, Eli Maule, Liam McCaw and Lincoln Bailey ran those relays.
“We haven’t always had the depth of some of the other teams in our conference,” Sutherland said. “This year, we actually do have a lot of depth and talent.”
The Lakers do boast a larger roster this spring and often have multiple top-three placers in running events. They’ll lose just five seniors and plan to carry on the success next season with an influx of current eighth graders to go with the current load of sprinters and freshmen.
“We have someone in each event that can compete,” Bradford said. “It helps build a good program.”
The Lakers have a shot at winning the Regional, Bradford acknowledged. A lot depends on individual efforts of many, he said, as the Lakers could place in every event.
“We have a whole week to prepare after Frankfort, and we need to find a happy medium of pushing the kids and keeping them going so they reach their top potential,” Bradford said. “It is going to be a team effort just like the conference meet. It is the interesting thing about track. As a team, we’re always looking to where can we come up with some extra points.”
Bradford, who also coaches the Lakers’ boys basketball team, believes all sports at the school contribute to the success Glen Lake is finding on the track. Growth in the school’s weightlifting program, led by past St. Ignace multi-sport and Central Michigan football standout Gage Kreski, has also been a big factor.
“Every program here contributes to track,” Bradford said. “We see the benefits that start with our lifting program.”
While the Lakers will attempt to advance several to the Finals, Sutherland is assured of being there. He already has met qualification standards in the 400, 800 and 1,600.
Sutherland is looking forward to the competitors ahead as he expects them to bring out his best. He hopes to better his own marks.
“If I actually have people around me, I am faster than 1:57 (his 800-meter school record),” Sutherland said. “I rarely have competition.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Glen Lake’s Colebrook Sutherland runs his leg of a relay. (Middle) Sutherland, holding the trophy, and his teammates take a photo to celebrate their Northwest Conference championship. (Below) Jacob Plamondon approaches the high jump bar. (Running photo by Meredith McNabb. Team photo by Donna King. Jumping photo by Jill Plamandon.)