Ravens Runner Ben Hill is Royal Oak's Athlete of the Spring Season

The freshman track and field phenom wins the Royal Oak poll over fellow track and field star from Shrine Julia Liggett.

Thousands of votes were cast to celebrate the region’s top athletes from the spring season and in Royal Oak, Ravens freshman Ben Hill was voted the Patch Athlete of the Spring Season. Fans found creative ways to support their athletes, from sending out email blasts to posting on Facebook walls and tweeting. All the nominees deserve recognition for their accomplishments. The following athletes earned the most votes from their respective Patch communities and are the winners of the Athlete of the Spring Season polls. Please lend your own congratulations in the comments at the end of this story. It was a race to the finish for two runners who normally save the photo finishes for the track. Royal Oak High School’s Ben Hill erased an early lead…

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Vote Now: Royal Oak Athlete of the Spring Season

Choose from a list of deserving candidates for Patch Athlete of the Season for Royal Oak.

Royal Oak High School had plenty of great athleteic performances this season. Now we want to hear from our readers which one they thought was the best. Be sure to vote by 9 p.m. Wednesday, June 27. Final results will be posted on June 29. Here are the candidates: Ben Hill – Freshman, Royal Oak High School, Track and Field: Ben Hill is proving to be one of the top young distance runners in the state. He finished 3,200 meter run in the Division 1 state finals and finished third place with a 9:20.38 to earn All-State status. Hill won an individual title in the race at regionals. He beat out teammate Max Benoit with a time of 9:44.61. He won the 3200 meters race at a variety of events throughout the year, including the Royal Oak Relays and the…

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Ferndale’s Lexie Brisson-Fast: May 28-June 2 Patch Athlete of the Week

The Eagles varsity girls soccer team’s leading scorer captures the crown!

Ferndale’s Lexie Brisson-Fast wins the Patch Athlete of the Week title for May 28-June 2 to give the Eagles their first winner of the spring season. After a week of unscientific polling among Patch readers in Oakland County, Brisson-Fast had 92 votes or 46 percent of the total votes cast (200). She beat Athens shortstop Melissa Palmer, who had 78 votes (39 percent), in a close vote. Brisson-Fast helped Ferndale capture a district crown Saturday with three goals in a 5-0 win over Hazel Park. After the Vikings held her team scoreless for 20 minutes, the senior scored twice to the Eagles an advantage and help pave the way for the school’s first district title. Other athletes in the poll included: Taylor Morrissey – Berkley High School (…

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Vote Now: Patch Athlete of the Week, May 28-June 2

Vote for your favorite prep sports athlete in Oakland County or write in an athlete you think deserves recognition. You have until Friday at 9 a.m. to register your vote!

Vote here to help choose the Patch Athlete of the Week of Oakland County for the week ending June 2. Last week, Lahser starting pitcher Neal Krentz won the Athlete of the Week poll to give the school its second straight winner. Vote for one of the following or write in your own candidate in the comments: Erin Finn – West Bloomfield High School (track and field): Erin Finn set a new all division record Saturday at the Division 1 state finals in the 3,200 meter run. She won an individual title with a time of 10:17.86. Finn broke Rochester’s Megan Goethal’s 2010 record by nearly five seconds (10:22.75). Haley Zemmer – Troy Athens High School (softball): The pitcher helped Athens capture the school’s first district title since 1997. Zemmer hit…

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Timothy Rath

9:02 am on Tuesday, June 5, 2012

SEP: Thanks for the heads' up. The poll has been added.   more ›

High School Sports Highlights

Saturday Highlights: Soccer, Baseball, Softball District Results

Ferndale soccer beats Hazel Park to win championship; Athens softball beats Troy and Adams on its way to district title; Adams baseball beat Avondale 7-3 to win district; OLSM baseball beats Andover in district finals.

* home team in all CAPS Andover over NOTRE DAME PREP 7-2  Orchard Lake St. Mary’s over Andover, 5-1 (at Notre Dame Prep) Andover (28-6) beat Notre Dame Prep 7-2 in the district semifinals, but ended up losing in the finals to Orchard Lake St. Mary’s 5-1. Marlin Pruitt pitched a complete game in the win over Notre Dame. He struck out seven and scattered three hits. The Barons put together 11 hits including a big 4-for-4 performance from Ryan Kavanagh. Todd Weiss and Alec Mares each had two hits. Mares had an RBI. In the second game, starter Gabe Berman was the victim of some poor defense behind him. The Eaglets reached base seven times on Andover infield errors despite Berman giving up only four hits in the loss. St. Mary’s advances to the …

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Vote Now: Patch Athlete of the Week, May 21-26

Vote for your favorite prep sports athlete in Oakland County or write in an athlete you think deserves recognition. You have until Friday at 9 p.m. to register your vote!

Vote here to help choose the Patch Athlete of the Week of Oakland County for the week ending May 26. Last week, Lahser tennis player Mollie Fox won the Athlete of the Week poll to give Bloomfield Hills its second straight winner. Will there be a third this week? Vote for one of the following or write in your own candidate in the comments: Neal Krentz – Lahser High School (baseball): No pitcher was hotter the last week of the season than Bloomfield Hills Lahser’s Neal Krentz. In three appearances on the mound, he went 15 innings, striking out 17 batters, only allowing three walks and had an ERA of only 0.40. He did it against some strong competition; all three had 20 or more wins. At the plate he reached base with hits in all three games. …

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Lahser’s Mollie Fox: May 14-19 Patch Athlete of the Week

Tennis standout Mollie Fox gives Bloomfield Hills a second straight Athlete of the Week winner in a row.

Bloomfield Hills Lahser’s Mollie Fox won the Patch Athlete of the Week title for May 14-19 to become the first tennis player to earn the title in the spring season. The Knights player picked up 426 votes after a week of unscientific polling among Patch readers in Oakland County, or 51 percent of the total votes cast (825). She edged track and field stars Ben Hill from Royal Oak (179 votes; 21 percent) and Erin Finn (169 votes; 20 percent) to come out on top. Fox gave her team a big boost by winning the No. 1 flight regional championship at the North Farmington regional last weekend. She beat Farmington Hills Mercy’s Winnie Karoub in the finals. Fox was one of six Knights players to reach the finals match, but the only girl to win a title. …

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Royal Oak Promotes Offensive Coordinator Ryan Irish To Head Coach

Irish takes over for coach Jeff Hill, who stepped down in January, to focus on his daughter’s battle with cancer.

A little over a year ago Ryan Irish was a finalist for the football head coaching position at Royal Oak High School. He lost out on the job, and according to him deservedly so, to a candidate that was a perfect fit. “I usually don’t like to finish in second, but in this case I lost out to someone who was the absolute right hire for Royal Oak,” Irish said in a recent phone interview. “His family lived in Royal Oak, he went to high school there; he was a Royal Oak guy.” That guy was of course Jeff Hill, who had to step down from the position in January after just one year when he and his family learned their eight-week old daughter Maleena had acute lymphoblastic leukemia. News of the resignation stunned the community; who believed Hill on …

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High School Sports Highlights

Wednesday Highlights: Lahser, Andover Baseball Battle at Comerica Park

The Knights win city rivalry game 6-1 on the big stage; girls lacrosse playoff results; Seaholm soccer wins final regular season game.

* home team in all CAPS Lahser over Andover, 6-1 (at Comerica Park) Bloomfield Hills Lahser enjoyed playing on the big stage Wednesday afternoon at Comerica Park against city-rival Andover. Knights starter Neal Krentz shut down the Barons' powerful lineup to give his team a 6-1 win. With the teams scoreless at the end of the second inning, Lahser got on the board first with two runs in the top of the third. Steven Terryn and Charlie Dauch reached base with a pair of hits and scored on an error. The Knights pushed their lead to 6-0 in the top of the fifth inning with four runs. Another error scored two runs with the bases loaded. Robbie Emmitt and Steven Terryn each hit RBI singles. Krentz kept a no-hitter going into the fifth inning. It …

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