By Don Rush

Oxford High School Senior Miranda Wyniemko has a record as she’s been known to steal. In her four years of varsity girls basketball play she’s stolen the ball 113 times from opposing offenses. Maybe it’s this affinity for stealing that has led her to what she wants to study in college next fall.

“I’m going to study forensic psychology and criminal justice,” the 5-foot-9 Wyniemko said. “I like the idea of investigations, but that could change.”

While at OHS Wyniemko played four years on the hardwood for Coach Rachel Bryer as a guard. A quick look at her four-year stats, aside from her steal total, shows she had 11 blocked shots, 102 defensive rebounds, 90 offensive rebounds, while scoring 621 points. She was also captain of the varsity basketball team both her junior and senior years.

Wyniemko said she likes to push herself. “I want to see my abilities grow. Every year I played I could see changes in the game. I wanted to work on new moves and as a leader to improve my communications with the other players,” she said. “I understood my spot on the team and worked to help the younger players to become leaders, too.”

Coach Bryer saw the growth in Wyniemko, also. “Miranda stepped up this year and became a true leader. She encouraged her team to work hard in games and at practice, and her focus everyday was to improve and be better than the previous day. Miranda gained a lot of confidence in herself and in her ability to score, and instilled confidence in her teammates and their abilities as well. Miranda will be missed next year, but we are excited to see where her new journey leads,” Bryer said.

Wyniemko said she enjoyed making relationships with her Wildcat teammates. “I really like the close camaraderie with the girls. You don’t get that nowadays, people just kind of mind their own business these days, they’re in their own world. It’s nice to hang with the other players and it’s also nice to see the parents get together. It’s good to see everyone when they’re happy.”

Wyniemko said when she gets to MSU she may play intramural ball, but plans to put more effort into her studies.

She is the youngest child of Jon and Jen Wyniemko, she has two older brothers, Brady and Tommy. She said she is very thankful for her parents, “They supported me playing basketball for six years, driving me all around. When I played AAU ball, it was like an hour drive to play in Clio. I really thank them. They taught me good morals. We traveled the world. We moved to China when I was six and we moved back when I was 10. We traveled to 17 countries. The opportunity to live and experience other cultures was pretty awesome.”

She said her parents both played sports when they were younger. “They exposed me and my brothers to all sports and let us find our passion, what we enjoyed. Living in China as a kid, there was no basketball. When we moved back I really wanted to play an American sport. In the sixth grade, Mr. (Jake) Trotter took me on his team and it all began there,” she said.