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.)

Grass Lake Boys, Birch Run Girls Enjoy Title Time Again

March 26, 2021

JACKSON – Grass Lake got to experience a Finals championship in Division 4 last season. And that was something they didn’t want to miss this weekend – regardless of a switch into Division 3 for this winter.

The Warriors may have faced larger opponents this time at Jax 60, but the result indeed was the same as they clinched their second-straight championship and third overall defeating Boyne City 1,357-1,179.

Meanwhile, Birch Run’s girls claimed their first championship since 2017 after finishing runner-up two seasons ago, out-rolling Armada 1,200-1,152.

“We’ve had that feeling right from the beginning of the year,” Grass Lake coach Jeff Wyers said. “These boys wanted it bad. It’s been in their system since last year.”

A year ago the Warriors entered match play as the top seed and defeated Farwell in the final by 153 pins.

Grass Lake entered match play as the second seed this time and immediately got a challenge from Portland before prevailing by 21 pins. Then came a 282-pin win over Napoleon in the semifinal before the Warriors swept both the Baker (366-329) and regular game (991-850) portions of the final.

Junior Jack Marshall led three Grass Lake bowlers over 200 in the regular game with a 238, followed by junior Brenton Cochrane with a 228 and senior Sean Wyers with a 208. Senior Michael Deming rolled a 185 to lead Boyne.

Sean Wyers is his team’s only senior.

“We wouldn’t have made it here if everybody hadn’t pitched a little bit in,” he said. “It wasn’t just one of us, it was all of us. Everybody had their time to shine.”

2021 D3 Girls Bowling Champion - Birch Run

Marjorrie Marlett and her teammates had been waiting to enjoy their own championship as Birch Run last won when these seniors were in eighth grade in 2017.

“I’ve been waiting four years for this, and I finally got it with my team,” said Marlett, who joined the varsity as a freshman. “We were just coming in to have fun and experience states just for states – having fun and enjoying ourselves and putting up a fight and never just getting down.”

Armada took the Bakers 365-343. But Birch Run followed junior Jillian Inman’s 215 and junior Cheyenne Brown’s 180 to claim the regular games 857-787.

“It is just so fulfilling. I’m so proud of the girls,” Birch Run coach Jane Severs said. “They worked so hard and put everything into it. I’m just overwhelmed for them. Their teamwork, and they motivate each other beyond words. They had fun, and they just went out there and screamed and yelled and had a good time.”

Birch Run, the second seed, downed Hudsonville Unity Christian and Jonesville on the way to the championship match. Armada entered match play the eighth seed but eliminated Caro and then Hillsdale to advance.

Senior Samantha Dulz led Armada with a 202 regular game in the final. The runner-up finish was the highest in program history.

Click for bracket results: GIRLS | BOYS