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SPORTS<br />
1<br />
2<br />
3<br />
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5<br />
6<br />
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8<br />
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10<br />
Making the Cut<br />
Twenty years of good sports<br />
BY STEVE STEIN<br />
As a writer for The Chaldean News<br />
since 2006, I’ve covered many great<br />
sports stories. Here’s a list of the top 10.<br />
1. Absolutely Perfect<br />
Pierce and Connor Shaya are tennis<br />
players at Bloomfield Hills High School.<br />
Pierce is a junior. Connor is a sophomore.<br />
Between them, they’ve played<br />
in the Division 1 state tournament five<br />
times and won five flight championships.<br />
And they have never lost a singles<br />
match in high school competition.<br />
Pierce is 47-0 and Connor is 53-0. Pierce<br />
lost a doubles match in 2022, so his<br />
overall high school record is 72-1.<br />
2. No Handicap<br />
Gabe Sheena lost most of his left leg to<br />
an amputation because he was suffering<br />
from osteosarcoma (bone cancer).<br />
The operation took place January 6,<br />
2000, one day before his ninth birthday,<br />
at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer<br />
Center in New York City. The handicap<br />
has never stopped him. He was an<br />
outstanding wrestler at Birmingham<br />
Brother High School and he wrestled<br />
for the University of Michigan. He’s<br />
now a doctoral fellow at Northwestern<br />
Medicine in Chicago after graduating<br />
from U-M and the Central Michigan<br />
University College of Medicine.<br />
3. Two-Sport Star<br />
Ella Lucia is headed to Harvard University<br />
to play Division I women’s hockey.<br />
The Bloomfield Hills High School senior<br />
had 32 goals and 92 assists in 66<br />
games last season for the Little Caesars<br />
AAA 16U girls hockey team. AAA is the<br />
highest level of girls junior hockey. Lucia<br />
also is an All-American high school<br />
girls lacrosse player. She had 125 goals<br />
and 59 assists in 23 games last spring<br />
for Bloomfield Hills.<br />
4. All For Iraq<br />
Professional soccer player Justin<br />
Meram, a Shelby Township native,<br />
played in World Cup qualifying matches<br />
and other competitions for the Iraq<br />
national team from 2014-22. He scored<br />
four goals in 36 games for the Lions<br />
of Mesopotamia. Meram was the lone<br />
Chaldean on the team, and one of the<br />
few Chaldeans who have ever played<br />
soccer for Iraq. Meram was able to play<br />
for Iraq because his parents were born<br />
there and he has dual citizenship. He’s<br />
currently playing for Charlotte FC in<br />
the Major Soccer League.<br />
5. It’s A Set Up<br />
Ava Sarafa was a member of three<br />
state championship volleyball teams<br />
(2020-22) at Birmingham Marian High<br />
School. A setter, she had more than<br />
5,000 assists in her high school career.<br />
She’s now playing volleyball at<br />
the University of Kentucky. She didn’t<br />
play for the Wildcats as a freshman,<br />
but she has four years of eligibility<br />
remaining.<br />
6. Not Easy<br />
Bloomfield Hills native Andrew Nadhir<br />
became an All-American wrestler<br />
the hard way when he was a senior<br />
at Northwestern University. He finished<br />
in sixth place at 149 pounds<br />
at the 2011 NCAA championships. To<br />
do that, he needed to wrestle seven<br />
matches in three days. After being<br />
pinned with one minute remaining in<br />
his first match of the meet, the Northwestern<br />
captain won four consecutive<br />
do-or-die matches in wrestle-backs,<br />
two in overtime. Nadhir was an All-<br />
State wrestler at Novi Detroit Catholic<br />
Central High School before heading<br />
to Northwestern. He’s now the chief<br />
operating officer at BOSC Realty Advisors<br />
in Troy.<br />
7. He’s A Bronco<br />
Michael Sulaka played a huge role in<br />
the Warren De La Salle High School<br />
boys basketball team’s Division 1<br />
state championship in 2022, his junior<br />
year. Sulaka’s most impressive performance<br />
during the Pilots’ run-up to the<br />
state championship game and their<br />
first state title came vs. Grand Rapids<br />
Northview in the state semifinals. He<br />
scored 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting,<br />
grabbed eight rebounds and blocked<br />
four shots in 21 minutes. He had a<br />
4.004 grade-point average at De La<br />
Salle. The 6-foot-9, 215-pound Sulaka<br />
is now a freshman on the Western<br />
Michigan University men’s basketball<br />
team. He didn’t play for the Broncos<br />
this year, but he has four years of eligibility<br />
remaining.<br />
8. He’s An Ironman<br />
Paul Shaya of Bloomfield Hills swam 2.4<br />
miles, rode a bike for 112 miles, and ran<br />
26.2 miles in one day in temperatures<br />
that topped 100 degrees and high winds.<br />
His reward? He was among 1,690 finishers<br />
in a field of more than 2,000 athletes<br />
who competed in the Ford Ironman<br />
Arizona competition in 2008. Shaya finished<br />
the grueling race in 16 hours, 27<br />
minutes and 19 seconds. He was back<br />
at work two days after the competition.<br />
Shaya is a Birmingham Groves High<br />
School and University of Michigan grad.<br />
9. March Madness<br />
Want to know why the high school basketball<br />
state tournament is called March<br />
Madness? Jeremy Denha can tell you.<br />
46 CHALDEAN NEWS <strong>APRIL</strong> <strong>2024</strong>
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