In Newest Bowling Role, Myers has EGR Boys Rolling

By Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com

March 12, 2021

EAST GRAND RAPIDS – Hunter Myers is performing a rare double role in athletics this winter.

The Vicksburg High School graduate is the first-year varsity bowling coach at East Grand Rapids, while also competing as a collegiate bowler.

The 21-year-old Myers is a junior on the Aquinas College men’s bowling team.

His opportunity to take the reins of the program occurred while interning for Pioneers’ athletic director Tim Johnston.

“He lost his bowling coach, and he brought me in and asked if I would take it,” Myers said. “I thought that would be a great idea, and I thought I could help out a lot and try to make things a little better.”

Myers inherited a boys squad that had struggled in recent years. East Grand Rapids won only one match in 2019 and was 6-14 last season. 

This season was put on hold by the pandemic as high school sports were shut down in early November. But bowling was one of the first sports to return in January, and it’s currently been a season to remember as the Pioneers are experiencing a turnaround that few expected. 

“Things weren’t going very good for them, so I was looking forward to helping them in any way I could,” Myers said. “It’s been an amazing experience, and I can’t complain one bit. I’m doing it for the kids, because when everything got shut down I didn’t even know if I would have a team.

“We had a girls team of seven and 18 guys came out so I was able to pick six and we’ve run with it ever since. I love the kids, and everything has been going well.” 

The boys team is currently 9-5-1 on the season after a loss to conference leader Byron Center on Wednesday.

That setback hasn’t diminished the vast improvement made by the Pioneers’ starters. Each bowler has made giant strides and improved his averages by 30-50 pins.

“I just got blessed with a good team with kids who are competitive and had some basics down,” Myers said. “They just needed some fine tuning, and now their averages have increased by a lot.”

East Grand Rapids has been led by junior Corbin Olsson, who boasts a 201 average.

Olsson averaged around 170 last season, but has seen his pin total rise through hard work and the addition of an experienced fresh face at the helm.

“I thought it was going to be good to have someone like him coach us because he has experience bowling in tournaments and bowling in high school and college, so he knows what it’s like,” Olsson said. “Last year was a pretty rough season, but with the new coaches and some new kids on the team it has definitely helped. 

“Coach has helped us with positioning, as far as where to stand and aim the ball. He also helps us to stay positive and have a good mental attitude toward the game.”

Junior Finn Moher is averaging 189, while the other juniors include Gavin Bishop (173), Cameron Brandstadt (176) and Michael Columbo (167).

Beau Stancil (151) is the lone senior.

Myers said he is pleasantly surprised by the team’s success.

“I didn’t know we would be doing as well as we have,” he said. “Now we’re third in the conference and we’re looking pretty good for Regionals coming up.”

While Myers has provided fresh insight to his team, he said his bowlers have dedicated themselves to getting better.

“They are putting in a lot of time on the lanes this year because they see what they can do, and they go out on their own and bowl together on the weekends,” he said. “We have two practices a week where they all work hard for an hour and a half, and we work on picking up spares and figuring out oil patterns as to what their ball is doing.”

Moher said Myers is showing the team different aspects of bowling that they didn’t know prior to his arrival.

“Just learning how to adjust to different lane conditions and how to move when our shot is not working,” he said. “He’s given us some confidence in ourselves and we’re starting to win, which has helped a lot. 

“Our first Bakers game is usually pretty good, but then the second one we don’t do as well. Individually we do really well, and I’m already looking forward to next year because I think we’re going to be really good with basically everyone coming back.”

Myers visited his former school for EGR’s first match, competing against his father James, who is the coach at Vicksburg.

Hunter won family bragging rights as the Pioneers rolled to a 26-4 win.

“My dad coached me in high school, and I called him and set up a match down there,” Myers said. “That was the first big surprise of the season, and that was a sweet victory for me.”

Myers said the parental support has been satisfying during the course of the season as East Grand Rapids has overcome past struggles en route to respectability.

“They think I’m some kind of wizard who made their bowlers really good, but they had it in them the whole time,” Myers said. “It’s just that nobody has really tapped into it.”

The Pioneers will compete next weekend at Regionals in Comstock Park.

“I think we have a shot at doing pretty well, and we’re definitely going to do a lot better than last year,” Olsson said. “It feels good to be on a winning team instead of one that loses all the time, and we all get along as a team. It’s been fun.”

Dean Holzwarth has covered primarily high school sports for Grand Rapids-based WOOD-TV for four years after serving at the Grand Rapids Press and MLive for 16 years along with shorter stints at the Ionia Sentinel and WZZM. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Allegan, Kent and Ottawa counties. 

PHOTO: Hunter Myers, far left, is in his first season leading the East Grand Rapids boys bowling program. (Photo courtesy of the EGR bowling program.)

Plymouth Christian Academy, Bronson Believe & Achieve at D4 Finals

By Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor

March 4, 2022

The Plymouth Christian Academy boys couldn’t believe they did it. The Bronson girls just had to believe they could do it again.

Friday’s Division 4 team bowling champions had different back stories, but arrived at the same celebration at M-66 Bowl in Battle Creek. PCA’s boys program – in just its third season – won its first Finals title, and Bronson’s girls team battled through a few tough spots to secure their third championship in four seasons.

The Eagles claimed their title with a 1,194-1,162 win over Grass Lake, which was seeking its third-straight team title after winning Division 3 last season and Division 4 in 2020.

Grass Lake won the Baker games by 53 pins, but PCA followed juniors Adam Moore (237) and Kyle Quick (215) in the regular games.

“It doesn’t feel real. It’s incredible,” Quick said. “It was a long road to get here. We had a lot of ups and downs, but in the end we all put in the hard work and we got it done.

“It shows how rapidly everyone’s been improving. It shows we have great leadership, great teaching, and that we have a great team.”

Bronson bowlingGrass Lake’s boys were seeded first out of qualifying after dropping 237 pins more than the field, while PCA entered match play seeded sixth. A 37-pin semifinal win over Vandercook Lake thrust the Eagles into the championship match, but they still had to balance out the Bakers with some big rolls down the stretch.

Senior Brenton Cochrane rolled a 197 to lead Grass Lake in the final.

“We thought we were down and out throughout this match. But as soon as we got past that fifth frame, the kids all of a sudden started taking it to the next level and started having fun with the game again – and I think that was the big difference,” PCA coach Robert Moore said.

“At some time throughout this season, each one of them has carried the team with a big game. This was the time for all of them to do it together at the same time.”

Bronson coach Linda Hyska has preached “pins, pins, pins get you the wins” through the hours of practice her team has put in as it’s worked to return to the top after ending in the semifinals a year ago.

The Vikings finished second in qualifying, also to Grass Lake, then moved through the bracket with a 52-pin win over Burton Bendle and 29-pin win over Ishpeming Westwood in the semifinal.

Bronson won the Bakers 357-297 over Grass Lake in the final, and followed up with a 763-714 advantage in the regular games for a 1,120-1,011 win.

“From our lows to our highs, they just finished it to the very end,” Hyska said. “They had moments today that (were) a downer. But you know what? Somebody else on the team picked them up, and that’s what this is – a team event today, and we all finished strong at the very end.”

Sophomore Hadassah Bloom paced Bronson in the regular game with a 179, while senior Cierra Chapo led Grass Lake with a 186. Grass Lake had defeated Bronson in their Regional last weekend at Jax 60, 3,427-3,328, and a combined five bowlers from those teams are slated to compete in Saturday’s Singles Finals.

“Starting off this year, I had faith in us – but we definitely had to work to get here,” Bronson senior Idalia Hernandez said. “Our big saying today was ‘positive mindset equals positive outcome.’ That’s something we live by … (and) we realize that definitely gets us going.

“I have faith they can come back every year.”

GIRLS Results | BOYS Results

PHOTOS (Top) Plymouth Christian Academy warms up before Friday’s Team Finals at M-66 Bowl. (Middle) A Bronson bowler winds up during competition. (Click for more from Champions Photography.)