Special Year Thanks to No Specialization
August 7, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
As we embark on another sports-filled school year Monday, we can look to a recent Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central grad for the value of a school year filled with sports.
As specialization at the highs school level continues to be debated, Bryce Windham will start his college baseball career this fall at Division I Old Dominion University – after playing baseball but also football and basketball for the Falcons.
The MHSAA has long advocated athletes taking on as many sports as they have interest instead of focusing on just one in pursuit of a college scholarship – a position that’s received plenty of public backing of late, be it from stars of the U.S. women’s soccer team after their World Cup championship run or former Lansing Waverly multi-sport athlete John Smoltz during his enshrinement in the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame.
Enter Windham – who easily could’ve been excused for focusing on baseball, or even basketball as his dad is the St. Mary’s varsity boys coach. Instead, Bryce quarterbacked the football team to last season’s Division 6 championship – breaking Ithaca’s national-best 69-game winning streak in the Final – before being named Class C Player of the Year by The Associated Press in basketball and earning a Most Valuable Player honor at the baseball state coaches association all-star game at Comerica Park this spring.
All three of Windham's teams reached at least the MHSAA Quarterfinals.
“His participation in football and basketball helped land a Division 1 baseball scholarship to Old Dominion. They were able to see his athleticism in basketball and toughness in football, and ODU’s coach loved it,” dad and hoops coach Randy Windham said.
“He probably would’ve given up football, and that ended up his greatest memory by winning a state championship.”
Click to read about Windham’s multitude of accomplishments as reported last month by the Monroe Evening News.
Honors Abound
National coaching honors were bestowed on a trio of Michigan coaches over the summer:
- Retired Trenton ice hockey coach Mike Turner – the winningest hockey coach in MHSAA history with a record of 629-126-52 from 1974-81 and then 1995-2014 – was named National Coach of the Year in Special Sports by the National High School Athletic Coaches Association. His teams won 11 MHSAA titles and finished runner-up four times. “I was there when the MHSAA added hockey as one of their sanctioned sports and crowned their first MHSAA state championships in 1975. At that time there were 60-70 high school teams participating, and now there are 170,” Turner said. “It has been great to be a part of the advancements made in the sport of high school hockey, with more teams participating, more player development, and more opportunities that exist for players after high school.”
- Traverse City Central boys track and field and cross country coach John Lober won his second national coaching honor of the 2014-15 school year, named the NHSACA Coach of the Year for track and field to go with a previous honor earned in January from the National Federation of State High School Associations. He has coached the Traverse City Central boys track and field team since 1977 and also the boys cross country team since 1989. His 1992 track team won the Class A championship, and he has coached 17 individual MHSAA Finals champions. He was inducted into the Michigan Interscholastic Track Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2006.
- Ann Arbor Pioneer assistant girls swimming and diving coach Liz Hill was named the Assistant Coach of the Year for all girls sports by the NHSACA. Hill, a former All-American at the University of Michigan and standout sprinter at Pioneer, began assisting her husband Denny Hill in 1983 before becoming his fulltime assistant a few seasons later. Together they’ve led the Pioneers girls to 15 MHSAA team titles, the last two as co-head coaches.
Michigan Mourns
Fremont and the high school athletic community statewide mourned the death July 21 of longtime coach Rich Tompkins, who led Fremont’s boys cross country teams to six MHSAA cross country championships including three and a runner-up finish during his last decade of coaching before retiring in 1997.
The Muskegon Chronicle reported that his boys and girls cross country teams and boys track and field team combined for 45 league championships, with his boys cross country team winning 116 straight duals from 1977-88. Tompkins was executive director of the Michigan High School Coaches Association for more than a decade and served on its board for more than two decades.
Click to read more from the Chronicle on Tompkins’ legacy.
Officials in the News
The Monroe County Officials Association took to the county fair to encourage passers-by to “Be the Referee” – and received 47 sign-ups from people interested in the avocation. Visitors to an MCOA booth at the fair were told in some detail what is involved with being an MHSAA official, and those who then signed up to find out more about officiating football, basketball, baseball or softball (sports the MCOA trains for and schedules) will be invited to an orientation session where they will become eligible for one of 20 complimentary registration fees for this school year.
The West Michigan Officials Association marked a decade of support at the start of this summer for the Visually Impaired Sports and Activity Day, sponsored by the Helen DeVos Children’s Foundation. The WMOA has contributed nearly $18,000 to the event over the last 10 years as well as taking part in the event, which includes a number of sports and other activities.
The Saginaw Athletic Officials Association sent along this photo of five members who worked 2013-14 MHSAA Finals, from left: Mark Jarlock (baseball), Tom Behmlander (softball), Scott Helmka (football), Dale Brown (softball and football) and Mark Schoenow (football). The Baseball Final was Jarlock’s first; the other officials had worked Finals in the past.
PHOTO: (Top) Monroe St. Mary quarterback Bryce Windham unloads a pass during last season's Division 6 Final win over Ithaca at Ford Field.
Troy Extends 1st-Day Lead to Take Back Title, Rochester's Anderson Completes Climb
By
Perry A. Farrell
Special for MHSAA.com
October 18, 2025
MIDLAND – It was the sweetest of Saturdays for the Troy High School boys tennis team at the Lower Peninsula Division 1 Finals.
Troy entered Saturday’s final rounds at Midland Tennis Center with a 23-17 lead over second-place Bloomfield Hills, with Detroit Catholic Central one more point back at 16.
By the time the flights were in championship matches, Troy had built an eight-point lead on the way to finishing with 32 points followed by the Black Hawks with 22.
The Colts, last Finals champs in 2021, ended Bloomfield Hills’ three-year reign after finishing runners-up the last two seasons.
Nate Wanstreet, part of Troy's No. 3 doubles team with sophomore Jackson Kraus, said the momentum for this year started last season.
Wanstreet and Kraus defeated Troy Athens' Sahay Achar and Vikram Menon 6-0, 7-6, to win their flight.
"We only lost one player from last season,'' said Wanstreet. "We got off to a slow start this season, but we started to come on late and hopefully this will lead to a championship.
"All year we've gotten everyone's best at No. 1 doubles. Even teams that weren't playing well before they played us, we got their best shot. It kept us sharp all year.''
Troy also claimed No. 4 doubles as Raghav Karur and Zain Taqi defeated Novi's Vincent Maisano and Ronak Sharma, 6-1, 6-4.
In the featured match of the day, Rochester's Chad Anderson, the top seed at No. 1 singles, downed second-seeded Grant Miller of Ann Arbor Pioneer 7-5, 6-7 (0-7), 7-5.
Anderson suffered with cramps in his legs, thighs and quads after the first set.
"This is probably the happiest I've been on a tennis court,'' he said. "I'm still in a lot of pain, but it was worth it. I broke him in the second set, but he broke back. It was a struggle because of the pain I was in, but it's worth it.''
Anderson went up 5-1 in the first set, only to have Miller rally to tie the match at 5-5. Anderson regrouped to win the last two games and take the set.
Miller broke through to win the second.
"They were giving me mustard to help with the cramps,'' said Anderson, who had finished No. 1 singles runner-up last season and No. 2 singles runner-up as a sophomore.
Troy's first flight championship came at No. 2 doubles with Varun Shetty and Sourish Darui downing Bloomfield Hills Sajan Doshi and Meyer Saperstein in straight sets 7-5, 6-1.
"We wanted revenge this year; we had lost to Bloomfield Hills the last three years. I agree that our momentum started last year,'' said Darui.
Added Shetty: "I wanted to get revenge from last year. We lost our last match. We just focused on the things we learned from last year. It'll be a great celebration tonight.''
Bloomfield Hills senior Jonah Chernett had the moment of the day.
Plagued with a disorder that prevented him from competing in singles and had him taking five trips to the Cleveland Clinic and one to Stanford this year, he and teammate Krish Reddy defeated top-seeded Ben Waechter and Spencer Seneker of Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice 6-4, 4-6, 6-4, at No. 1 doubles.
"It has been such an amazing journey,'' said Chernett, who had to sit in a special chair during the changeover. "I've been playing singles all my life and not being able to compete was tough. I love my team and being able to get out there ... I felt at the start of the season we had a chance.''
Novi's Kris Thomas captured No. 2 singles with a 6-3, 7-6, victory over Troy's Dheeraj Yelleti. At No. 3 singles, Bloomfield Hills' Zev Spiegel defeated Okemos' Kai Minamisono. 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, to clinch. No. 4 singles saw Troy's Anthony Wu and Detroit Catholic Central's Graham Long go three sets with Wu prevailing 5-7, 6-2, 6-3.
PHOTO (Top) Troy's Krish Gupta celebrates during Saturday's Division 1 second round at Midland Tennis Center. (Middle) Rochester's Chad Anderson returns a volley at No. 1 singles. (Below) Dheeraj Yelleti sends a forehand at No. 2. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)