D2 Singles Champs Stand a Cut Above
March 4, 2017
By Tim Robinson
Special for Second Half
CANTON — Three years ago, Angela Meadows was a freshman, determined to prove she belonged on a high school bowling team.
“The story is, her coach cut her,” Taylor Kennedy coach Dan Dutcher said. “Silly coach, right? That was me.”
“We joke about it now,” Meadows said. “No more hard feelings.”
Saturday, she made her point abundantly, and gloriously, clear.
Meadows won the Division 2 girls individual championship at Super Bowl in Canton, defeating Michaellia Merlo of Pontiac Notre Dame Prep 421-280 in the championship match.
Meadows said she never thought about when she clinched the match until the end, because her mind was elsewhere.
“I wasn’t thinking about it at all,” she said. “(Merlo) was so nice, and I was just having fun.”
It was a marked change of perspective for Meadows, who admits to a streak of pessimism.
“I was not pleased at all with my season,” she said. “As an individual, I did really bad until the state championship.
“I kept a positive attitude (Saturday),” she said, “and somehow proved myself wrong.”
After making the final round as the No. 9 seed, Meadows won her first match over No. 8 seed Madison Burdick of Charlotte and got a surge of confidence.
“I couldn’t believe I beat the first girl,” she said. “She was so good. After the first round, I realized I was going to win this thing.”
Meadows squeaked past Imari Blond of Flint Kearsley, 407-403, in the Quarterfinals, then slipped past Kaylee Collier of Jackson, 347-329, to reach the Final.
After she had been cut from the team as a freshman, “I was devastated,” Meadows said. “I was motivated and wanted to prove him wrong.”
Dutcher couldn’t have been happier.
“It was a perfect day,” he said. “A peak day and a perfect day for her. I wouldn’t say it was expected, but she expected that she would advance far. She had a very consistent day overall. Not too high or too low.”
That wasn’t the case afterward.
“I thought I was dreaming,” she said, laughing, about the award ceremony. ‘I still don’t think it’s real.”
In the boys competition, David Norhouse of Byron Center defeated reigning champion Austin Robison of Sturgis 458-413 in the Final. Robison won the first game 254-226, then slumped in the second game, which Norhouse won 232-149.
“Austin ended with seven or eight strikes in a row,” Byron Center coach Walt Dyer said of the first game. “David had five in a row to stay close, and got a good string going to pull away in the second game. It was very exciting.”
It was a rematch from last year, when Robison beat Norhouse in the first round en route to winning the Division 2 title.
“It came down to the ninth frame, and it was a great match,” Dyer said. “David had talked about it earlier, and said, ‘I can’t let him beat me again this year.’ And it came to fruition.”
Norhouse was the No. 3 seed Saturday. He got past Tecumseh’s Tavon Hastings in the first round, 403-392, then breezed past Nick Dimitri of South Lyon and Liam Robinson of Marquette in the Semifinals.
It was Norhouse’s fourth trip to the Singles Finals and his third trip into match play. Two years ago, as a sophomore, he finished the qualifying block first overall, only to lose to the No. 16 seed.
Robison, the No. 4 seed, got past Jacob Harvey of Adrian by 20 pins in the first round, beat Wyatt Mains of Three Rivers by 35 in the Quarterfinals and rallied to beat South Lyon’s Ryan Zaharia in the Semifinals.
Click for full girls results and full boys results.
PHOTO: Taylor Kennedy’s Angela Meadows (middle) stands with coaches Dan Dutcher and Dorene Bird.
History Made in D1 as Senior Champs Strike
By
Perry A. Farrell
Special for MHSAA.com
March 27, 2021
ALLEN PARK – Reigning Division 1 singles champ Izaac Goergen almost met his fate in the ninth frame of his second game in the boys semifinal Saturday at Thunderbowl Lanes.
A 3-7-9 split paved the way for Holt’s David Schaberg to reach the final. Goergren’s 233 could have been beaten if Schaberg struck out. But Schaberg left a seven-pin on his first shot in the 10th and his 245 game left him three pins short of advancing, 467-464.
“I threw three good shots in the 10th and I wanted to make him earn it if he beat me,’’ said Goergen. “I did that and was lucky enough to advance.’’
Schaberg, meanwhile, was stunned: “I wanted to stay aggressive. I thought it was down. In that situation, you have to stay aggressive.’’
Goergen emerged with an opportunity to make MHSAA Finals history – and took advantage. The Midland senior faced junior Ian Cain from Livonia Franklin in the championship and became the first Division 1 bowler (and second across all divisions) to repeat in singles, claiming his second straight title, 463-384.
“This means everything to me,’’ said Goergen. “With the pandemic and how the season went, there were things going on that weren’t in my favor.’’
In the girls division, Westland John Glenn senior Anna Maxwell, who shot a 278 in the semifinal, knocked off the top seed on her way to the final. There she faced South Lyon’s Ava Crumley, who had stopped second-seed Melanie Straub of New Baltimore Anchor Bay to advance.
Maxwell came out firing in the championship, throwing the first 10 shots for strikes to shoot a 289 and build a 54-pin lead on her way to the title, 470-389.
“The big lead gave me some room,’’ said Maxwell. “(Crumley) is a friend, so even if she won I would’ve been fine.
“This means so much considering what we have been through.’’
Cain advanced to the championship by knocking off Nick Johnson of Swartz Creek 377-331.
Goergen was the top qualifier at 1,361, 10 pins higher than Northville’s Brandon Leavitt, whose 279 in the sixth game shot him up to second in the qualifying block.
Jacob Vernier of Wyandotte Roosevelt was the final qualifier at 1,210, one pin better than Gabe Johnson of Plymouth and three more than Patrick McLetchie of Clarkston.
Despite a split in the 10th frame of his second game, Goergen advanced to the quarterfinal with a 383-371 victory over Vernier.
The toughest match pitted Franklin teammates Cain and Kenneth Kloth Jr. Cain advanced to the quarterfinal with a 399-368 win to face junior Brandon Leavitt of Northville in a semifinal.
“It was tough, especially with him being a senior,’’ said Cain. “I just concentrated on my game. The lanes are really tough.’’
Schaberg moved into the semifinal by eliminating sophomore Jermiah Swain of Hudsonville 445-308.
Nick Johnson of Swartz Creek shot 254 in his second quarterfinal game and beat Andrew Martin of Utica Ford 489-434.
Goergen reached the semifinals by eliminating Shane Legeret of Macomb Dakota 388-335.
Grace Meyer of Oxford was the top girls qualifier at 1,271, 17 pins better than sophomore Straub.
Meyer eventually met her match and fell to Maxwell in the quarterfinal, 411-282.
Meyer had eliminated Sarah Lyeria of Lapeer, 432-351, to get to Maxwell, while Straub moved past Alexis Thompson of Grand Haven, 466-365.
Belleville, the team runner-up on Friday, had two singles advance to the quarterfinal. Junior Sydney Allison eliminated Carrington Beamon of Farmington, 426-308, while teammate Asia Wells beat Kaitlyn McGovern of Midland, 352-345.
Straub, who hadn’t bowled a game under 210, beat Wells, 441-393, to advance to the semifinal to face Crumley, who had defeated Morgan Smith of Zeeland East 415-335. Allison, meanwhile, was stopped by Monroe’s Nataleigh Eagle, 368-319, in the other quarterfinal.