Boys Aim to Add to Vandercook Lake Legacy
By
Chip Mundy
Special for Second Half
December 23, 2016
By Chip Mundy
Special for Second Half
JACKSON – At Vandercook Lake, bowling is family.
The girls coach has a son and a nephew on the boys team.
The boys coach has a daughter who was part of three girls teams that won MHSAA Finals championships.
In fact, the girls have won five Finals titles – while the boys are still searching for their first.
And in the middle of it all, both teams had to find a new home.
OK, maybe it sounds a little like a dysfunctional family, but that is far from the truth. And this year, the boys have a high-scoring team that is capable of contending for that first championship.
“We're trying to bring one home for the boys,” sophomore Korey Reichard said. “We're trying to break that barrier.”
Vandercook Lake won the Division 4 title in girls bowling in 2011, 2013 and 2014. Reichard's sister Kelsea was on those teams, as was Malloree Ambs, daughter of boys coach Libie Ambs.
“My first year when I took over the boys, we were state runner-up,” Libie Ambs said. “It's always in the back of my head. My daughter bowled on three of those championships teams, so I know what's there, and I want one for the boys.”
Last year, Vandercook Lake made it to the Division 4 Semifinals before losing, and it lost just one person from that team. In December of 2015, the Jayhawks slipped into the state record book with a team game of 1,228 – No. 10 in state history, regardless of division, according to the Michigan High School Interscholastic Bowling Coaches Association. Four of the five bowlers on that team are back this winter.
Just a week ago, Reichard had a two-game total of 520 – a 260 average – but he was second on his team to senior Zach Cecil, who averaged 267 for a 534 two-game total.
Those explosive scores, paired with last year's runner-up finish and the school's rich tradition in bowling, make the Jayhawks a team to watch at most events, especially around Jackson.
“We've always said there is a target on our back,” Libie Ambs said. “People know about the program and what's coming out of it, and there are people who watch and pay attention to our scores.
“Some of the boys don't worry so much about it. I tell them to keep their composure. People are going to watch you and talk about you, and you are going to have big crowds behind you. Those are the things they need to get used to.”
Making a splash
Vandercook Lake is far from a one-person team, but one person has a better resume than the others: Reichard, who already has been featured in the “Faces in the Crowd” section of Sports Illustrated. On Jan. 21, 2012, Reichard bowled games of 265, 257 and 278 for an 800 series becoming, at age 10, the youngest bowler in history to reach 800 for three games.
“That 800 gave me a lot of confidence, but I didn't really understand what I did the first few years,” he said. “Now I know what it means.”
Reichard's top series since was 780, and on Oct. 15, he bowled his first 300 game, which he said was a greater thrill.
“Because I hadn't done it yet,” he said. “The 800 was kind of like a shock, and I didn't understand it as much because I was 10.”
Reichard's parents, Todd and Jill Reichard, have been top bowlers in the Jackson area for many years. His older brother, Casey, and older sister, Kelsea, had success on the high school team, so he had plenty of role models growing up.
“My mom and dad have been a huge influence, especially my dad,” he said. “He's coaching the girls now, and I've watched probably 10 years now with my brother and sister on the teams, and now I'm in my second year.
“My mom just watches the high school matches, but she plays a bigger role in the tournaments that I bowl in on weekends.”
Reichard also participates in the Michigan Junior Masters Association and the West Michigan Junior Gold Tour. The experience he has gained in those tournaments has helped him learn different lane patterns and gain experience.
“There are lots of tough patterns that we bowl on,” he said. “Every shot is tough, and there are some really good players, especially in the MJA, and that is great competition.
“There are a lot of state bowlers there, bowlers of the year, state champions. It has helped ground me and help me to get better because there's always somebody better than you. I keep working every day just to get better.”
Last year as a freshman, Reichard averaged 231.2 over six games during the Division 4 Finals qualifying block to earn the top seed in match play. He showed great consistency in the qualifying with games of 223, 229, 245, 232, 242 and 216, but he lost in the second round of match play when he rolled back-to-back games below 200.
“My goal is to bring a state title home and try to get academic all-state,” he said. “Academics are first in my mind.”
Teammates helping teammates
Coach Ambs said the most gratifying part of this team is how they help each other on the lanes.
“I am most proud of these guys for their ability to work together,” she said. “When somebody sees something, he will come back and say something like, 'My ball did this,' or 'My ball did that.' They talk to each other about the lanes, and they do that quite a bit.”
Reichard leads the team with a 241 average, while Cecil is second at 232 and sophomore Conner Lackey – Reichard's cousin – is third at 220. Three juniors round out the team: Tyler Strawser (182), Keegan Campbell (180) and Hunter Storm (173).
“We always talk to each other,” Cecil said. “We're always giving each other advice.”
Lackey said they all know each other's games so well that it makes it easy to help a teammate when he is struggling.
“I think having a supportive team – with our bowling background – has helped a lot,” he said. “We know everybody's game so well that if somebody throws a bad shot, we know the adjustment that needs to be made.”
Perhaps the trickiest part of Ambs' job as coach could be working with Reichard while his father, Todd, is on hand coaching the girls. But they make it work quite smoothly.
“Todd and I have worked together for enough years that if I have a question about Korey – and Korey and I can't talk about it – I will ask Todd,” she said. “Or Korey will say, 'I'll go ask my dad,' or Conner will say, 'I'll go ask my uncle.'
“It is a little bit of a challenge with him being right there, but it's not a bad challenge. If they need or want him, then I will let them talk to him, or I will go stand with the girls and he can go and talk with them. However it has to happen. We do coach very well as a team, and that's the good thing about it.
“It's nice to have him there.”
Losing a home, finding a new one
It wasn't that long ago that Jackson was home to five bowling establishments. It is down to two, and one of the losses was Summit Lanes, a 50-lane house located just a mile or so from Vandercook Lake High School. It was the Jayhawks' home house, and when Summit closed in the summer of 2014, the team moved to Airport Lanes in Jackson.
“When it first closed, I was a little bit devastated because for the three of us, it was pretty much our second home,” Lackey said. “We'd had tournaments at Airport, but overall we didn't bowl a lot here. I feel like we've adjusted, and it's starting to become our second home.”
Cecil said, “It was tough at first and kind of a shock. It came out of nowhere. We picked each other up from that big blow, and here we are.”
The core of the team began bowling years ago in the Saturday morning youth leagues at Summit.
“We all grew up together,” Cecil said. “We were good friends growing up, and bowled on the same team in youth leagues, and now we're a team again."
Chip Mundy served as sports editor at the Brooklyn Exponent and Albion Recorder from 1980-86, and then as a reporter and later copy editor at the Jackson Citizen-Patriot from 1986-2011. He also co-authored Michigan Sports Trivia. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Vandercook Lake’s Zach Cecil watches one of his rolls. (Middle) The Vandercook Lake boys bowling team, with coach Libie Ambs (right). (Top photo courtesy of MLive/Jackson Citizen Patriot; middle photo by Chip Mundy.) (Below) WXYZ-TV reported on Korey Reichard's 800 series in 2012.
Preview: Returning Champions Ready to Roll Again
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
March 23, 2021
This weekend’s MHSAA Girls & Boys Bowling Finals could be characterized by lots of opportunity during Friday’s team competition – followed by chasing of past champions in singles on Saturday.
Five team champions are back from 2020. But only Bronson’s girls, with two straight Division 4 titles, are looking at a streak longer than a repeat.
Five of last season’s eight singles champions also will be back to provide some intriguing punch to Saturday’s tournaments – although that said, there have been only three repeat individual champions since the start of MHSAA Bowling Finals in 2004.
Below is a look at possible contenders for all eight championships, both team and singles. Action begins both days at 8:25 a.m., with Division 1 at Allen Park’s Thunderbowl, Division 2 at Waterford’s Century Bowl, Division 3 at Jackson’s Jax 60 and Division 4 at Canton’s Super Bowl. Click for the full list of qualifiers, and come back to Second Half all weekend for coverage from all four Finals sites.
Division 1 Girls
Team: An Ottawa-Kent Conference team has won the last two Division 1 titles, and the league has two candidates to continue the streak including the reigning champion. Zeeland (a co-op of East and West) won last year’s Final by 30 pins and rolled a Division 1 Regional-high 3,666 last weekend to edge Hudsonville’s 3,366 at Muskegon’s Sherman Bowling Center. Lake Orion and Westland John Glenn also are back after making the match play last season, and John Glenn is coming off a Regional title at Taylor’s Skore Lanes. Davison won five of six championship between 2012-17 and is back in the mix after also winning a Regional title, by 50 pins over the Dragons at Waterford’s Century Bowl.
Singles: Four bowlers who made last season’s Finals match play will compete in this division again this weekend. Wyandotte Roosevelt junior Angelita Rodriguez rolled a Division 1 Regional-high 899 to win her tournament at Skore Lanes and reached the quarterfinals last season – where she lost to Farmington senior Carrington Beaman, who also is back coming off a fourth-place Regional finish. Westland John Glenn senior Anna Maxwell finished runner-up at Skore last weekend after also making the quarterfinals a year ago. Belleville’s Katherine Dybicki made the Finals match play a year ago, and finished sixth at Skore last weekend. Davison junior Emma Hawley, Holt junior Angelita Mireles, Salem senior Amanda Ellenwood, Muskegon Mona Shores senior Bailey Graham and Farmington Hills Mercy senior Maddie Briggs also won individual Regional titles.
Division 1 Boys
Team: Ten of the 12 finalists rolled at least 3,800 pins at their Regionals and five reached 3,900. A few of the frequent contenders again help fill this field – starting with 2018 champion Waterford Kettering, which rolled a Division 1 Regional-best 4,059 to claim the title at Waterford’s Century Bowl. Reigning Finals runner-up Salem, which also won the 2017 title, is back after a runner-up Regional finish last weekend. Swartz Creek is back after making the match play in 2020 and is seeking its first title. Macomb Dakota’s 3,939 to finish second to Kettering at Century Bowl would have won every other Regional – although Utica Ford (3,931) and Rockford (3,936) also won Regional titles and Grand Haven was only seven pins off the Rams’ pace at their tournament.
Singles: Reigning champion Izaac Goergen will return as a senior for Midland and finished third at a Regional last weekend at Royal Scot in Lansing that also included Holt junior David Schaberg, another 2020 quarterfinalist. Brownstown Woodhaven senior Marco Ramirez made the semifinals last season and is hoping to take the next step or two, and Clarkston senior Patrick McLetchie also will return after making the match play a year ago. Traverse City West junior Jeremy Decker won the Regional at Royal Scot with Goergen and Schaberg, and he was joined among champs last weekend by Salem senior Jaydon Kurowski, Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern junior Carson Hommes, Utica Ford junior Andrew Martin, Livonia Churchill senior Alex Maki and Macomb Dakota senior Gregory Guzik II.
Division 2 Girls
Team: This tournament will feature some significant clashing of powers. Reigning champion Mason returns coming off the highest Regional score in any division, 3,867 at Kalamazoo’s Continental Lanes, with four of last season’s top six bowlers also advancing to the Singles Finals. Tecumseh has finished Division 2 runner-up three straight seasons and came up just one pin short against the Bulldogs last season; Tecumseh also won its Regional last weekend, at Westland’s Town & Country Lanes. Also back in the hunt is Flint Kearsley, which had won six straight Division 2 titles and seven in eight seasons before falling to Mason in a semifinal last season. St. Clair Shores Lake Shore made the Division 1 Finals match play in 2020 and is in Division 2 this time, and also won a Regional title last weekend.
Singles: Kearsley senior Megan Timm returns after winning last season’s championship, as does Warren Woods Tower sophomore Kayla Tafanelli, who made the semifinals last season and won her Regional last week at Oak Lanes in Westland. Coldwater senior Rilee Cooper-Lewis, Charlotte senior Abigail Mather, Kearsley senior Allison Eible, Carlton Airport junior Kayla Peterson and Wayland sophomore Kadence Bottrall all also made the Finals match play last season. Bottrall won her Regional last weekend, also joined among Regional champs by Kearsley sophomore Sara Ritchie, Charlotte junior Adriana Good, Whitehall junior Karli VanDuinen and Tecumseh junior Abby Werden. Rolling second at Oak Lanes was Lake Shore senior Dani DeCruydt, who finished Division 1 Finals runner-up as a sophomore and also made the match play in that division last season. VanDuinen made the Division 3 quarterfinals a year ago.
Division 2 Boys
Team: Reigning champion Jackson Northwest is rolling into this Finals with plenty of momentum after posting a Division 2 Regional-best 3,951 at Continental Lanes. The team’s top four scorers from last season’s championship match all are back and also qualified for the Singles Finals. Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills – a runner-up to Grand Rapids Northview at the Regional at Westgate Bowl in Comstock Park – is the only other team from last year’s match play that advanced to this weekend. Tecumseh, the Finals runner-up in 2019, just missed rolling the top score last weekend with a 3,944 to win at Town & Country Lanes.
Singles: Reigning champion Noah Tafanelli of Warren Woods Tower also is back seeking a repeat as a senior and won last weekend’s Regional at Oak Lanes. Northview sophomore Kyle Pranger was the singles champ at Westgate and made the semifinals before running into Tafanelli last season. Chelsea senior Luis Carvallo, Northwest senior Brayden Metcalf and sophomore Ryan Wenman and Cadillac junior Dylan Vermilyea all also made the match play in 2020. Bay City John Glenn sophomore Logan Larive, Marshall sophomore Kameron George, Niles sophomore Trenton Phillips and Tecumseh freshman Owen Williams also won Regional titles last weekend as eight of 12 champs or runners-up from that round were underclassmen.
Division 3 Girls
Team: Seven teams have filled the eight first or second places in Division 3 over the last four seasons – and the one team to do so twice, Birch Run, is one of only two teams in this weekend’s field that has won a Finals title. The Panthers claimed the Division 3 championship in 2017 and were runners-up in 2019, and Flat Rock was the champion in 2012. The other 10 finalists are seeking their first Finals title, but there is some experience contending. Caro made the semifinals last season and Armada made the match play, and both won Regional titles last weekend. Kent City was a Regional runner-up last weekend but finished Division 4 Finals runner-up a year ago.
Singles: As seniors dominated the 2020 singles bracket, this weekend should provide plenty of opportunities for a new group of contenders. Hillsdale senior Karissa Manifold made the quarterfinals last season but is the only returning bowler to advance that far. But Armada senior Samantha Dulz and Cheboygan senior Morgan Jones both also made last season’s match play and won their Regionals last weekend in leading the highest-scoring team Regional champions in Division 3. Ovid-Elsie senior Mikayla Kelley, Muskegon Oakridge senior Breanna Medacco, South Haven junior Harlee Burrows and Canton Prep junior Anika Fields also won Regional titles last week, Burrows with a Division-best 872 to finish first with Manifold second at Joey Armadillos in Niles. Clinton senior Hallie Kittle made the match play in Division 4 last season.
Division 3 Boys
Team: Armada won its second Finals championship in six seasons last year and claimed the Regional title last weekend on a tie-breaker over Flint Powers Catholic at Richmond’s Strikers Entertainment Center. Three of Armada’s top five bowlers from last year’s championship match are back. Reigning Finals runner-up Boyne City also was a Regional champion last week, at Cheboygan’s Sparetime Lane, while Livonia Clarenceville joined Kettering in Division 1 as the only boys teams to break 4,000 pins at Regionals, rolling a 4,050 to win at Flat Rock Lanes. Powers and Belding join Armada and Boyne City as the only return qualifiers in this division.
Singles: Six of last season’s match play qualifiers are back this weekend, with Napoleon senior Brandon Teddy the top advancer from 2020 having made the quarterfinals. Also back are Jonesville senior Alexander Bumpus, Clarenceville senior Ryan Bishop, Belding junior Trenton Altman and Essexville Garber seniors Braedyn Hofmeister and Zachary Moore. Clarenceville junior Jacob Johnson had the highest Regional-winning score in the Division at 925, with Boyne senior Michael Deming close behind at 923. Ovid-Elsie senior Ian Hehrer, Portland senior Josh Rutkowski, Armada senior Dylan Malinowski and Quincy senior Brandt Neely also won Regional titles.
Division 4 Girls
Team: Bronson has won the last two Division 4 team titles and is the only team in this field that has won a Finals championship in this sport. The Vikings reached this weekend as the Regional runner-up to Hanover-Horton last weekend at Jax 60 in Jackson. Those two rolled two of the top three team scores in the entire Division during the Regional round, joining Ishpeming Westwood. As noted above, last season’s runner-up Kent City is in Division 3 this season, but Traverse City Christian made the semifinals and Fowler and Ravenna both made the Division 4 match play last year; the latter two are both coming off Regional titles.
Singles: Kassidy Alexander was the highest Regional scorer for that top-scoring Hanover-Horton team, and she’s also the reigning Division 4 singles champion after earning a seven-pin victory in 2020. Oscoda senior Andrea Bickel and Ishpeming Westwood junior Kylie Junak both also made the semifinals last season, while Vandercook Lake senior Arielle Oakley and Pittsford senior Kathryn McArthur also made the match play. Rogers City junior Chandra Ganske, Fowler senior Lauren Speers, Reese senior Haleigh Seeger, Ravenna senior Heidi Kloostra, Burton Atherton junior Sheila Dugdale, Pittsford sophomore Brooke Vanous and New Haven senior Jessica Carl all won Regional titles last weekend, Speers and Seeger tying for first at Crooked Creek in Saginaw.
Division 4 Boys
Teams: We could have a first-time champion in Division 4; of eight qualifiers, only St. Charles (in 2010) has won a Finals in this sport. St. Charles was second at its Regional at Crooked Creek to Ithaca, which rolled a Division 4 Regional-best 3,513. Both reached the match play last season, as did Manchester which advanced to the semifinals and also won a Regional title last weekend at Tecumseh’s Ten Pin Alley. Homer and Muskegon Western Michigan Christian joined Ithaca as breaking 3,400 pins in winning Regional titles.
Singles: Reigning champion Hunter Haldaman is coming off last weekend’s championship won with an 815, the second-highest score across all Division 4 Regionals. The Traverse City Christian senior’s semifinal opponent last season, Aaron Stephens of Breckenridge, also is back this weekend as a senior, and Lakeview junior Riley Devereaux is back after making the quarterfinals in 2020. Joining Haldaman as Regional champs last week were Manchester junior Bobby Stemen, Jackson Lumen Christi sophomore Jackson Kremer (with a Division 4-best 866), Western Michigan Christian senior Ryan Michael, Burton Bendle senior Cody Angle and Pewamo-Westphalia senior Ethan Mandeville.
PHOTO: Bowlers warm up prior to the start of last season’s Division 4 Finals at Royal Scot in Lansing. (Photo by Rob Kaminski.)