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.
As Race Times Fall, Centreville Sophomore's Profile Rises, Goals Grow
By
Scott Hassinger
Special for MHSAA.com
October 14, 2025
CENTREVILLE – Will Hulin reported to his first high school cross country practice last fall as a freshman at Centreville without logging any summer mileage.
Hulin's lack of preseason training wasn't his choice though.
"My left knee became inflamed, and there was a bunch of liquid in it so I wasn't able to run the entire summer,” he said. “They removed the liquid, and I was cleared to start running the day before our first practice. I went into the season without any miles under my belt."
Despite the late start in his training, it didn't take Hulin long to work himself into shape – and he blossomed into the Bulldogs' top runner with rapid success.
Hulin ended his freshman cross country season as a 2024 Lower Peninsula Division 3 Finals qualifier at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, where he achieved a then personal-best time of 16:56.1 – good enough for 83rd place.
Also a guard on the Bulldogs' basketball team, Hulin additionally competes in track & field. Last spring he was part of Centreville's Finals-qualifying 3200-meter relay team. He also competes in the 1,600, 800 and 3,200-meter races.
"I missed going to state in the 1,600 by a half second,” Hulin said. “My success in track last spring helped get me prepared for my sophomore season in cross country. The sprints we do in basketball practice, I feel, make me a strong sprinter at the end of my track and cross country races.”
Hulin spent most of June attending open gyms and lifting weights for basketball. He increased his daily mileage base and attended a summer running camp at Grand Valley State University a few weeks before the start of this cross country season.
"At the cross country camp we had our toughest workouts of the day at 6 a.m. every morning. After breakfast, lunch and some free time we'd do further training in the afternoon,” he said. “It was a lot of fun. We had guest speakers come in and talk to us about nutrition, proper running shoes and mechanics to help improve us as runners. I found the nutrition part most beneficial because I learned what kind of food you need to have in your body before and after a run."
Will's parents, Shawn and Kim Hulin, are both former runners who later coached track & field in Centreville at the high school and middle school levels.
"I was always at practice with them every day when I was younger, so running was kind of born into me," Hulin said.
Fifth-year Centreville cross country coach Alicia Schmidtendorff stated that Hulin has some big goals he’s been working to attain since he joined the program back in middle school.
"Will has been running fantastic times this fall. He ran in some different races over the summer and came into this season with the mindset of going after some school records and placing among the top runners in the state. Last year he had to deal with a few injuries, so this is an exciting time for him,' said Schmidtendorff, who ran at Three Rivers High School and Spring Arbor University.
Centreville has more depth, especially on its boys team this season, prompting the Bulldogs to set a team goal of qualifying for the Finals. The Bulldogs' roster numbers 16 runners on the boys side and 13 on the girls.
"Our goal this year is to qualify as a team for state, and we might still accomplish that. It helps to have other guys with the same goals as I have. It pushes me to run faster and do whatever I can to help our team,” Hulin said. “I've been around most of these guys since elementary school. Our coaches have a good workout program for us every week. Everyone makes things fun at practice, and that's always enjoyable."
A quick start during the first mile of every race is a big part of Hulin's strategy.
"I always run my fastest in that first mile and it fades off from there, which I think is typical for most people,” Hulin said. “I like somewhat hilly courses, like the Big Hill Invite at Meyer-Broadway Park in Three Rivers. I really enjoyed that course because this year I was in better shape."
Hulin has turned in consistent times all season as the Bulldogs prepare for their most important meets over the next few weeks. Centreville’s No. 1 runner has finished first in eight of the Bulldogs' 13 races, including winning all three Southwest 10 Conference jamborees. He finished third in the Division 3 boys race at the prestigious Portage Invite on Oct. 4 with at time of 16:12.5. He clocked his all-time personal-best with a fourth-place time of 16:03.8 on Aug. 27 at the Southwest Michigan Rustbuster XC Invite at the Warner Camp in Grand Junction.
"It's been exciting to see Will's mental and physical growth as a runner this season. He's a very driven person who puts the work in on his own schedule along with what we're doing in practice,” Schmidtendorff said. “Will is very good at communicating how much he's able or not able to handle during workouts. I like knowing as a coach where my athletes are (in terms of) what they are capable of handling each day."
"We have a lot of seniors who are great leaders, but also great racers,” she added. “There are also several young runners who have strong work ethics, and our upperclassmen have been very welcoming to them. This group knows they have to be competitive not only with opposing racers but also with people on their own team. It’s been beneficial to Will to have other guys on his team who can push him in practice. Everyone has their strong suits, and they know what it takes to get the job done. It's a team effort, and we have a coaching staff that has a competitive mindset."
Hulin's goals for the remainder of this season include winning his Regional, qualifying for MIS, earning all-state honors with a top-30 Finals finish, and breaking Logan Weis' 2022 school-record time of 16:01.9 in the 5,000-meter (3.1-mile) race.
"I just try and run as fast as I can every race. I'm chasing Logan's record every meet and getting close to breaking the 16-minute barrier and getting into the high 15s," Hulin said. "It would be really cool to win Regionals as a sophomore. I don't think that many people are aware of me yet."
Hulin feels his biggest strengths as a distance runner are his determination and endurance.
"I always approach every race with some sort of strategy depending on who I'm running against,” he said. “I already know most of the guys I am competing against, so I just try to plan out my strengths to work against their weaknesses.”
Scott Hassinger is a contributing sportswriter for Leader Publications and previously served as the sports editor for the Three Rivers Commercial-News from 1994-2022. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Berrien, Cass, St. Joseph and Branch counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Centreville’s Will Hulin sprints the closing stretch Oct. 4 at the Portage Invitational. (Middle) Centreville cross country coach Alicia Schmidtendorff, left, is pictured with Hulin at the school's Fall Sports Media Day. (Below) Hulin stretches out prior to the start of the Division 3 boys race at Portage. (Race photos by Scott Hassinger. Media day photo courtesy of the Centreville athletic department.)