Harnden Takes Place in Eisenhower History as Program's 1st Singles Champ
By
Perry A. Farrell
Special for MHSAA.com
March 2, 2024
ALLEN PARK – Utica Eisenhower has produced some great high school bowlers in past standouts Carter Milasinovich and Dylan Kelly.
You can add Dylan Harnden to the list.
The junior won his first MHSAA singles title Saturday at the Division 1 Finals at Thunderbowl Lanes, holding off 16th seed Ben Prokopec of Grand Haven, 393-375 in the championship match.
In doing so, Harnden became the first to claim a singles title from his school’s boys bowling program, annually one of the strongest statewide.
“Those guys have been a huge inspiration for me,’’ said Harnden. “Oh my God, they are super good and I always wanted to be like them. When I was with Carter my freshman year he was just giving me advice about how to stay mentally strong and how to physically get better at the game.”
Mark Harnden is his father and coach.
“I couldn’t be more proud,’’ he said. “Dylan is a student of the game. We talk though things. We made some changes during the course of the day, and they worked out.’’
Prokopec had to bowl in a roll-off to reach the 16th seed. He nearly made his improbable run a reality when he posted a 447-417 victory over Davison’s Joe Merz in the Semifinals.
Standing in his way was Harnden, who defeated 15th seed Albert Guzman of Farmington, 382-313.
Hartland’s Andrew Clark was the top seed at 1,319 pins in qualifying, while reigning champion Brendan Riley of Waterford Mott was second at 1,293 and Holt’s Nicholas Schaberg third at 1,289.
Utica Eisenhower had two finish in the top 16: Junior Kingston Corpus fifth at 1,275 and fellow junior Harnden sixth at 1,263.
New Baltimore Anchor Bay senior Michael Pupin and Grand Haven junior Prokopec each finished at 1,200 – two pins fewer than Macomb Dakota’s Landen Moore, who finished at 1,202 – to set up the roll-off for the final match play spot.
Prokopec won the roll-off 204-195 to advance against Clark. He kept the momentum going by eliminating the top seed, 375-292.
Prokopec’s next opponent was sophomore Brady Pettenger, who had bounced Tony Bain of Wyandotte Roosevelt, 352-343. Once again the 16th seed prevailed, 383-327.
Guzman, the 15th seed, downed Riley 436-423, and Ferris Eldred of Hudsonville eliminated Cole Rogus of Dakota, 423-393.
Grandville’s Bonham Pulcifer topped Evan Eagle of Monroe, 456-325. He moved on to face Merz, who had defeated fifth-seed Kingston Corpus of Utica Eisenhower, 409-320.
Merz outlasted Pulcifer, 397-334, and moved on to face Prokopec.
Nicholas Schaberg of Holt ended Landen Moore’s run, 434-429, to advance against Harden, who had defeated Matt Sprau of Portage Central, 377-362.
Harnden rolled into the Semifinals with a 435-407 victory over Schaberg, next taking on Guzman, who had defeated Eldred, 404-346.
2 x Flint Kearsley, 2 x Champions
March 6, 2015
By Sarah Jaeger
Special for Second Half
WATERFORD – Friday’s Division 2 Bowling Finals at Century Lanes ended in a repeat for 2014, as both the Flint Kearsley girls and boys teams successfully repeated as MHSAA champions.
The Kearsley girls had to defeat a familiar foe, 2014 Finals runners-up Bay City Western.
"I thought this was déjà vu all over again," said Bay City Western senior Anna Kuehne, "but I kind of hoped the ending was different."
After losing three bowlers to graduation last year, Western welcome three new members to the roster including a senior bowling with the team for the first time and a junior who had never picked up a ball until six months ago.
The Warriors came out strong with their Baker games, and Kearsley soon found itself down 69 pins after the set.
"I knew they were good," said Kearsley coach Robert Ploof. "I knew they could put up some scores in their Baker games."
But the Hornets made each frame count and never gave up. "You just got to chip away," Ploof added. "They didn't worry about throwing strikes, just filling frames, and that's what we did and it paid off."
Kearsley was able to overcome the deficit and win 1242-1212.
"You got to give Bay City Western credit though, they gave us everything we could handle,” Ploof said. “They had us, they really did. They had us."
Junior Hannah Ploof led Kearsley during the final game with a score of 238 despite battling an injury to her foot. "She's kind of a mess right now. So for what she did out there, that's pretty amazing," said Robert Ploof, also her father.
"I iced it all day, and I tried not to think about it," Hannah said. "The last match it was more like my adrenaline kicked in, so I didn't feel it."
On the boys side, Western also was Kearsley’s championship match opponent – and the last obstacle keeping Kearsley from becoming the first Division 2 boys team to win back-to-back titles.
With close Baker matches of 160-152 and 173-168, the Western boys took the lead going into the regular game.
But experience in the Finals came in handy for the Hornets.
"We only lost one senior from last year," said Flint Kearsley coach Bart Rutledge, "so we had the same team coming back."
Not only was it primarily the same team from 2013-14, but most of the bowlers had been competing together for the last six years.
"Our school started middle school bowling," said Kearsley senior Anthony Kelly, "so we've been bowling together ever since seventh grade."
And for his last game with his teammates, Kelly rolled a 226, allowing Kearsley to edge Western, 1351-1344.
"To be completely honest, at the start of the year I didn't think we had it in us. And now that it's over I wouldn't change anything," Kelly said.
While Kearsley’s boys will have one lone bowler returning next season from their back-to-back championship teams, Bay City Western does not have a graduating senior.
They already have set their sights on the prize.
"It's not the result I wanted, but it's a lot farther than I thought we were going to make it," said Dylan Brown, a junior for Bay City Western.
"Next year I think it's ours," he added. "We're a young team, we really are. Next year we'll be a lot more mature."
Click for full girls results and boys results.