Comeback Champs Claim D3 Titles
March 6, 2015
By Chip Mundy
Special for Second Half
JACKSON – At a time when it needed them most, strikes became contagious for the Corunna girls bowling team late in the third and final game of the MHSAA Division 3 championship match Friday at Airport Lanes.
Freshman Morgan Gilbert caught the bug initially. Bowling in the leadoff position, Gilbert struck from the fourth through seventh frames as Corunna wiped out a deficit against Coloma.
In that seventh frame, three of Gilbert’s four teammates followed with strikes as the Cavaliers defeated Coloma 1,233-1,170 for its first MHSAA championship in bowling.
“We didn’t really have anything going on, and someone needed to step up,” said Gilbert, who rolled 201 in the deciding match. “I felt like we needed to do it now, and if we didn’t do it, then we weren’t going to do it at all.”
Corunna, which a week earlier won its Regional at Eastland Bowl in Kalamazoo, was first after the morning qualifying by five pins ahead of Coloma. The Cavaliers defeated reigning champion Croswell-Lexington in the Quarterfinal and Grand Rapids South Christian in the Semifinal.
In the title match, Coloma won the first Baker game 183-144, and Corunna took the second 201-162, making it even going into the third and deciding individual match. Coloma started strong in the third game before Corunna regrouped.
“I was a little bit concerned, but these girls know what they have to do to battle back,” Corunna coach Ryan Koyne said.” They never give up. We had some nerves out there, you could definitely tell. I might have been the most nervous out of the entire group.”
Junior Hannah Eldridge, who made the Singles Semifinals a year ago, led Corunna with a 208 from the third spot.
“In the individuals you are by yourself, but winning states with a team is so different,” she said. “We just tried to keep each other going and keep making spares, but it was very nerve-wracking. I’m really proud of our team.”
Morgen Scott added 173 for Corunna, while freshman Brianna Eldridge had 156 and senior Sierra Howes added 150.
“There are no emotions to describe this,” Scott said. “It was the most thrilling thing you could ever think of. You can’t understand the feeling of winning states.
“It had never been done at Corunna before until today, and I’m the happiest person on earth right now.”
Howes said that bowling well late in games was something the team had done all day.
“I believed we could come back because most of the games we bowled today we were behind in the first five frames but then in the last five frames we came out and won,” she said. “I am very emotional right now. Being a senior and winning conference, regional and state is just beyond how words can explain.
“It’s really a great feeling.”
While winning in come-from-behind fashion was nothing new for Corunna, it was a new sensation for Armada’s boys, who trailed by 38 pins after the two Baker games before beating Richmond 1,202-1,166 to win the MHSAA championship.
“We started out good and then sort of hit a soft spot, but we pushed through,” leadoff bowler Edward Seefried, a sophomore, said. “There wasn’t much concern because we know we’re a good singles team and we could pull through. We really hadn’t fallen behind before, so we had to come back, so that was a little different.”
Armada, the Regional champion at Cherry Hill Lanes in Dearborn Heights, won its first Bowling Finals championship in school history and did it against a school with which it shares home lanes.
“We know them very well, so it was good to bowl them, and we knew before the last match that at least the state title was coming back to the conference.”
A 147 in the second Baker game left Armada 38 pins behind Richmond going into the final individual game.
“We were behind in the Baker, but we picked up some momentum late in the second game,” Armada coach James Carl said.
Armada was pretty steady in the final game, while Richmond was not able to keep its momentum from its scores of 178 and 198 in the two Baker games. Armada won the third game 867-794 to erase the 38-pin deficit and win the state championship.
Senior Zack Blackstock, who has been bowling since the second grade, led the way with a 198.
“The feeling is unreal,” he said. “We were down 38 pins, and my coach told me I just needed to cover my guy and every spare counted. I made everything I could. I ended with a 198 and threw it the best I could.
“I think the major turnaround was just keeping everyone together. We’re a good group of boys. When someone gets down, the others bring you up. You’re only as good as your weakest link.”
Seefried threw a 184 for Armada, followed by Kyle Gest (171), Nick Medley (161) and a combined 145 from Brandon Carrizales and Matt Hammer. Medley converted a tough 4-10 split late in the game that Seefried said “really changed things.”
Medley, a senior, said he was not concerned about the 38-pin deficit after the Baker games.
“Two Baker games don’t mean anything,” he said. “In the individuals you can shoot 1,000 pins, and in a Baker game you can only get 400. Anything can happen; you have five bowlers bowling 10 frames. They started off with some open frames, and that gave us a little motivation to get up and start throwing some strikes.
“This is a great way to end it.”
Armada, which was seeded No. 2 after the morning qualifying session, defeated Birch Run in the Quarterfinals and Jonesville, last year’s Division 4 champion, in the Semifinals. Defending Division 3 champion Fremont, which had won two of the previous three MHSAA titles, did not make it out of the morning qualifying session.
Click for full girls results and boys results.
Regional Miss Leads TC Christian to End on Historic Finals Roll
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
April 16, 2021
As fall sports playoffs commenced, Traverse City Christian was seeking its first ever MHSAA Finals championship in a girls sport.
Then the Sabres’ volleyball team reached the Regional Finals, and thoughts of a state title were on the school’s collective mind.
That’s good.
But those hopes ended at the hands of Leland.
If you’re one of the Sabres, that’s bad.
Yes, but winter sports were on the horizon and girls and boys Regional bowling titles had been numerous in years past. And the girls team graduated only one member of the 2020 team that reached the Division 4 semifinals and fell 10 pins shy of the championship match.
That’s good.
Suddenly winter sports hit the pause button.
That was bad, and frankly sad for many student-athletes.
In February, the pause button was released and the Sabres bowling teams were ready again to pursue Division 4 titles.
Fast forward a bit and the girls managed to let the Regional title slip out of their hands, 52 pins short of champion Ishpeming Westwood. They lost a 90-pin lead in the final game.
Oh, supporters and the girls would agree that’s bad.
Not really, as the Sabres’ runner-up finish qualified them for the Finals.
That’s good, right?
Indeed! They topped Ishpeming in a semifinals rematch on their way to claiming the first girls sport Finals championship in the school’s history.
“We thought we were going to win one (Regional) this year,” said Brent Wheat, one of the Sabres’ three girls and boys bowling coaches and the school’s baseball coach. “We were in the lead (at the girls Regional) and the individual mental side of things kind of took over that last game and got in their head a little bit, and it impacted the outcome for the team in the end.
“We gave up the lead, and I think that was a big growing lesson for them, and it was a lesson the coaches really hammered in that next week before the state finals.”
Kaia Bebe, Rebekah Burch, Hannah Elenbaas, Brooke Smith, Eva Wendel and Ella Wendel were the comprised the history-making team. Along with Wheat, coaches Andy Radtke and Judy Radtke are also in the history books.
TC Christian’s boys bowlers did win their Regional and nearly upset top-seeded and eventual Finals champion St. Charles in the opening round of that tournament’s match play, coming up 21 pins shy of the victory. The Sabres’ Hunter Haldaman, Jeremy Hansen and Ella Wendel also competed in the next day’s Singles Finals, with Wendell finishing runner-up and Haldeman reaching the semifinals as both made the all-state first team.
“It was quite a year for TCCS bowling – two conference titles, a Regional boys title and a girls state championship,” noted coach Andy Radtke. “It's shown them what hard work, teamwork, and a never-give-up attitude can accomplish.”
The girls team’s character is what impresses their coaches the most.
“They encourage each other, and they are respectful to their coaches and opponents,” shared coach Judy Radtke, who also teaches at TC Christian. “It was wonderful for me to have several coaches from other teams at the Finals tell me how much they enjoyed bowling with our girls and how nice they were.
“As coaches, we seek to use bowling to help build character in our players, and I'm thankful they were able to demonstrate that on such a big stage.”
The three coaches, who are all related, aren’t really surprised the girls became Finals champions in less than 10 years of competing.
“Andy, my father-in-law, and I talked about it after we won,” Wheat said. “We used to go down there (to the Finals) and look at these teams and go ‘Man, I wonder what that feels like to be that team that wins.
“‘I wonder what it feels like to have that program that can compete at that level,’ and all of sudden we’re sitting in that position,” he continued. “It is hard to process.”
Mounting successes are what Andy Radtke points to for the real lack of surprise. Traverse City Christian’s girls had won Regional championships three of the last four seasons entering this one.
“I’m very pleased, but not surprised,” he said. “During the 2019-20 season they were conference and Regional champions.
“They also did very well at states – finally losing in the semifinals in a very close match,” he continued. “I’m convinced that experience served as a springboard to this year winning the championship.”
Christian’s small enrollment, fewer than 75 students in the high school, is a source of pride for Judy Radtke.
“To be able to successfully compete against schools that are significantly larger than ours feels really good,” she said. “Our school has had several girls teams, in all sports, do well in postseason play.
“Being able to be the first team to win that Finals trophy is incredibly exciting.”
Wheat believes the lessons learned in the second-place Regional finish led to tremendous growth.
“They really buckled down and performed above their years from what we have seen mentally,” he said. “They seemed much more grown up in their competing.
“Being able to control the mental side of it at that level is the difference in champions versus just coming up a bit short,” he explained. “They were able to work through it largely from what had happened the week before.”
The Division 4 Finals title has the school’s athletic director Micah Gallegos beaming with pride for both the girls and boys bowling teams.
“We have great kids who work really hard to develop themselves and their game,” he said. “It is evident that we have created a recipe for success.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Traverse City Christian’s Ella Wendel finds her shot this season. (Middle) Hannah Elenbaas, with the Sabres’ Adam Rasmussen to her left, sends a shot rolling. (Below) Traverse City Christian celebrates its championship March 26 at Canton’s Super Bowl. (Photos courtesy of the Traverse City Christian bowling program.)