Oxford, Kettering Earn 1st Championships
March 2, 2018
By Keith Dunlap
Special for Second Half
STERLING HEIGHTS – It’s rare when one MHSAA team championship bowling match comes down to the last frame.
But twice on the same day?
That is what will forever make the 2018 Division 1 Finals at Sterling Lanes so unforgettable.
The Oxford girls and Waterford Kettering boys teams both rejoiced in winning their first titles in school history, as both pulled out their matches in the final frame.
Oxford’s girls team outlasted Macomb Dakota, which entered the regular game of the championship match trailing by 26 pins. Dakota rallied and actually was leading in total pins going into the last two bowlers before Oxford’s duo of juniors Megan Armbruster and Claire Sandstrom made sure the reigning runner-up Wildcats wouldn’t lose in the Final two years in a row.
Armbruster bowled two strikes and finished with 27 pins in her 10th frame to set up the last between Sandstrom and Dakota anchor bowler Danielle McBride.
Unfortunately for Dakota, McBride had an unlucky split on her first ball of the 10th frame, leaving three pins and only being able to pick up two of them.
With the door open, Sandstrom bowled a strike and then added nine more pins in her 10th frame to finish off the title for Oxford.
“A weight was lifted off of my shoulders,” Sandstrom said of when she saw McBride’s ball end with a split. “But I had to stay focused on what I was doing and make my shot.”
For Oxford coach JR Lafnear, it was the end of a 13-year quest for a Finals title, one that nearly resulted in a championship last year before the Wildcats fell to powerhouse Davison in the title match.
“That is what propelled them to work so hard over the summer in practice,” Lafnear said. “Shooting spares and corner pins and doing all that stuff. They were here and got a taste of all the excitement. They really wanted to get it done this year.”
Dakota was seeking its second Division 1 title after winning in 2015.
“They battled through a lot of adversity today and could have gotten knocked out several times,” Dakota coach Kevin Wemyss said. “They showed their character today.”
The boys tournament ended in similar dramatic fashion.
Davison held an 11-pin lead over Kettering after the two Baker games, and the match stayed close until the final frame of the regular game.
The last bowler of the match was Kettering junior Hunter Gates, who stepped up needing 14 pins to give his team the title.
Gates firmly got a strike on the first roll to send the Kettering team jumping for joy, and then the celebration officially began on the next ball when Gates knocked down seven pins.
When he did so, he quickly put his hands over his face and wept tears of joy as he was mobbed by teammates.
“I was just trying to stay cool, calm and collected,” Gates said. “Bowl like I know how I do. My teammates had all the faith in the world in me.”
Kettering head coach JR Olerich said he wasn’t sure if Gates knew he needed only four pins on what turned out to be his final ball.
“If he did, it probably would have been a little bit tougher,” Olerich said. “We all knew.”
Kettering achieved a rarity in that it went wire-to-wire for the title.
The Captains finished first out of the qualifying block before beating No. 8 seed Hudsonville by three pins in the quarterfinals (1,285-1,282) and Saline by 39 pins (1,298-1,259) in a semifinal.
Davison qualified as the No. 2 seed before beating Walled Lake Central in the quarterfinals (1,322-1,227) and Macomb L’Anse Creuse North in the semifinals (1,403-1,335).
Davison was trying to carry the torch at the Finals for the powerhouse girls program, which failed to qualify for the tournament after winning it five of the previous six years.
This was the first time the boys team advanced to the championship match.
“We graduated four starters from last year, so we were really looking at this as a rebuilding year,” Davison coach Robert Tubbs said. “But we went into Regionals and we won the Regional, and we came in here and qualified second. We looked at it as house money. It’s hard for those guys to take it on the chin and say you were four pins from a state championship. These guys, they are not my best average team in my 14 years, but they got more heart, more grit and more determination than any other team I have coached.”
The Oxford girls finished second out of the qualifying block and then earned wins over Saginaw Heritage (1,223-1,207) in the quarterfinals and Holt (1,193-1,152) in the semifinals.
Dakota qualified fifth and then beat Bay City Western (1,164-1,119) in the quarterfinals and No. 1-seed Jenison (1,330-1,157) in the semifinals.
No 'Just Missed' This Time as GR Christian Champ Heerema Rolls Perfection
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
December 14, 2023
GRAND RAPIDS – Zeke Heerema had come close to perfection so many times before.
The Grand Rapids Christian senior bowler wasn’t going to let another opportunity slip away.
Heerema rolled his first 300 game Saturday during the Grand Rapids Christian Invitational at Park Center Lanes.
“I had gotten really close a lot of times,” Heerema said. “So I was really excited when it happened. I’ve been trying to do this for a while now, and I’ve gotten so close. I was just ecstatic, and honestly, it was almost a sigh of relief finally doing it.”
Heerema’s close calls included a 279 “countless times,” and at last year’s MHSAA Division 2 Final he recorded a 289 en route to winning the singles title over Tecumseh’s Owen Williams by a narrow margin, 388-382.
As he had done so many times before, Heerema found his rhythm early Saturday in the quest for 300 and began racking up strikes.
He avoided the slip-ups that had plagued him in earlier attempts.’
“I obviously realized after the fourth or fifth frame that it’s starting, and it happens all the time,” Heerema said. “I kind of thought at some point I would mess up because I always do. I always get really close and then mess up late.”
This time, however, there would be no miscues.
And he wasn’t doing it alone. He had his teammates and a crowded bowling center anxiously watching every shot as he got deeper into the game.
“The pressure started building a lot, and whenever I would throw a shot, the whole place would be silent,” Heerema said. “I honestly didn’t think I would get it until the 11th shot. And then I struck there, and thought I just have to get one more. I was pretty confident in the last one.”
Ironically, Heerema's last ball was the one he felt the least amount of anxiety throwing.
“Honestly, I think I felt the least pressure on the last shot for some reason,” he said. “I felt really nervous the last part of the game and then it got to the last shot, and I don’t know, I kind of knew I was going to make it.”
Grand Rapids Christian coach Dan Vander Ploeg said it was a “joy” to witness his team captain roll his first 300 game.
“Zeke is a dedicated and loyal person with a great work ethic,” Vander Ploeg said. “He has an inner drive and a competitive thirst which pushes him towards success.”
Heerema, whose previous best was 10 consecutive strikes in a game, was overwhelmed by the support.
“I'm glad I did it with my family there as opposed to being at practice, and my brother, Levi, once had a 300 in practice,” Heerema said. “I think it was pretty sweet to have my parents there and some of my friends.”
Heerema entered this season with heightened expectations after last year’s Finals title run, but he’s taking it in stride.
“I feel like there is a little bit of added pressure, but honestly I try not to really think about that,” he said. “I’m just going out there and bowling every day, trying to win conference and Regionals, and then hopefully repeat.”
Heerema is the leader of a youthful Eagles squad.
“We have some talent and some young kids who have promise,” Heerema said. “I’m trying to work with them every day in practice to try and improve them and improve our team and hopefully make a run at it this year and in years to come.”
Heerema attributes his success to a consistent routine.
“I try to do the same thing before every shot,” he said. “When I’m grabbing my ball or setting my feet up, and then I've worked a lot on trying to get my mechanics to be consistent. That’s probably the biggest part, keep your mechanics the same on every throw and that’s what's going to lead to consistency.”
All four Heerema brothers have competed in the sport. The oldest, Nolan, bowled as a senior in high school, while Elijah and Levi both bowl collegiately at Cornerstone University.
“My brother Elijah taught me how to throw in eighth grade, and that’s when I started to take it seriously and joined the team,” Zeke Heerema said.
Grand Rapids Christian athletic director Jason Heerema took pride in watching his youngest accomplish a feat that was long overdue.
“As a dad, I have watched him bowl many times and nearly get 300,” he said. “So I always enjoy it, and I’m hopeful, but I don’t get too high or too low, which is likely part of being an athletic director.
“I am very proud of him in these days of specialization to be able to play at a high level in three sports. He gives great effort in whatever he does, and I’m grateful for that.”
In addition to bowling, Zeke Heerema was a starting wide receiver and long snapper for the football team. He also was the starting center fielder for the baseball team, which won the Division 2 championship in the spring.
Dean Holzwarth has covered primarily high school sports for Grand Rapids-based WOOD-TV for five 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 and video courtesy of the Heerema family.)