The 2024 Michigan High School Field Hockey Association Division II title match was not only the meeting of two fine teams, but these were two varsity programs which were begotten from the idea of one of the two coaches, Chelsea (Mich.) head coach Leslie Fry.
Mind you it wasn’t Chelsea’s 1-0 win over Dexter (Mich.) that earned Leslie Fry the co-award for United States Coach of the Year, but it was more than two decades of legwork by her and one of her closest associates.
Shortly after the turn of the century, Leslie Fry and Roxy Block, colleagues within the coaching apparatus at Ann Arbor Greenhills School (Mich.) dating back to 1979, had the goal of adding field hockey playing opportunities in Washtenau County, located west of Detroit.
The team, the Washtenau Whippets, started as a co-op club program, playing competitive field hockey against varsity teams in Michigan. They were a unique program, carving their own trail and writing a unique story in American scholastic field hockey,
That effort bore fruit in Washtenau County — as well as at least four fully-fledged varsity teams. Beginning in 2016, a number of school-based teams began play as a result of the players and coaches who were in the Whippets program. This included the Dexter (Mich.) Dreadnaughts, which would develop a 2024 Olympian, Abby Tamer.
The effort was not without struggle. In 2010, the team was at a crossroads, going winless and earning but one draw in a trying campaign. It was also about that time when Roxy Block was diagnosed with cancer.
The team had a mission — not only to improve the play on the field, but to raise money to fight cancer. Two years later, the Whippets would win the 2012 Michigan High School Field Hockey League title.
Fry would then embark on a second act, to bring a championship to Chelsea High School. By dint of hard work and determination, the varsity would win the 2015 MHSFHA Division I regular-season title at the first time of asking. Chelsea, however would fell just short of winning a state championship that season, losing to Ann Arbor Pioneer (Mich.) 1-0 in the state tournament.
Heartbreakingly, the Bulldogs would not be able to bring a title to Chelsea while Washtenau co-founder Roxy Block was alive; she lost her seven-year battle with cancer in December 2017. And while Chelsea would have another couple of state final appearances, they could not break through.
That is, until 2024. In the final, the Bulldogs would meet one of its spinoff teams, Dexter.
The Bulldogs would win the game on a third-quarter goal from Jikke Kerstens. Her shot deflected off a Dreadnaught defender and over the goal line. The game didn’t end without a last-minute scare when Dexter put a ball into the cage from just outside the striking circle. But the final whistle confirmed Chelsea as winners.
On the sidelines, Fry was joined by her assistant coaches — her daughter Casey and Corey Block, the daughter of Roxy Block. The three were given the field hockey Coaches Award from the Michigan Southeastern Conference.
The 2024 Chelsea championship was the first state tournament championship for Chelsea but the last one under the aegis of the MHSFHA, as the tournament will be run by the Michigan High School Athletic Association starting next fall.
Fry, and her co-winner Jodi Hollamon, join a group of luminaries who have won this award in the past:
2024: Leslie Fry, Chelsea (Mich.) and Jodi Hollamon, Delmar (Del.)
2023: Jeannette Ireland, Ellicott City Mount Hebron (Md.)
2022: Ann Simons, Longmeadow (Mass.)
2021: Ruth Beaton, West Newbury Pentucket (Mass.)
2020-21: Carrie Holman, Vienna James Madison (Va.)
2019: Ali Good, Summit Oak Knoll (N.J.)
2018: Bri Price, Hershey (Pa.)
2017: Mary Werkheiser, Norfolk (Va.) Academy
2016: Jessica Rose Shellenberger, Mount Joy Donegal (Pa.)
2015: Danyle Heilig, Voorhees Eastern (N.J.)
2014: Eileen Donahue, Watertown (Mass.)
2013: Jim Larkin, Fredericksburg Chancellor (Va.)
2012: Ashly Fishell-Shaffer, Edgemere Sparrows Point (Md.)
2011: Lil Shelton, Severna Park (Md.)
2010: Sarah Catlin, Cincinnati St. Ursula (Ohio)
2009: Danyle Heilig, Voorhees Eastern (N.J.)
2008: Dr. Elizabeth Mitchell, Pewaukee Trinity Academy (Wisc.)
2007: Wendy Reichenbach, Palmyra (Pa.)
2006: Barb Dwyer, Ladue Horton Watkins (Mo.)
2005: Robin Woodie, Fredericksburg Stafford (Va.)
2004: Monica Dennis, Grosse Pointe South (Mich.)
2003: Kearney Francis, Silver Spring Springbrook (Md.)
2002: Slade Gormus, Midlothian James River (Va.)
2001: Amanda Janney, Ft. Worth Trinity Valley (Tex.)
2000: Eileen Allan, Pompton Lakes (N.J.)
1999: Amy Wood, Bethesda-Chevy Chase (Md.)
1998: Diane Chapman, Garden City (N.J.) and Brenda Beckwith, Winslow (Maine)
1997: Maryellen Clemencich, Allentown (N.J.)
1996: Tracey Paul, Escondido San Pasqual (Calif.)
1995: Nancy Fowlkes, Virginia Beach Frank W. Cox (Va.)
1994: Mike Shern, Lacey (N.J.) Township
1993: Pat Toner, Newtown Council Rock (Pa.)