Preview: Expect the Unexpected
March 3, 2016
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Few MHSAA tournaments are tougher to analyze and predict than the Girls and Boys Bowling Finals.
The top scorers from last weekend’s Regionals included a number of unranked teams, and two of the No. 1-ranked lineups at the start of the postseason didn’t qualify for Friday’s Team Finals to be contested at four bowling centers – Division 1 at Sterling Heights’ Sterling Lanes, Division 2 at Canton’s Super Bowl, Division 3 at Jackson’s Airport Lanes and Division 4 at Lansing’s Royal Scot.
Saturday’s singles competition will feature a few more familiar faces. St. Louis’ Kyle Tuttle is going for his third championship, and past champion Bailey Budnik of Rogers City is in the Division 4 field. Three of the other seven reigning champions also will return with repeats in mind.
Click for the full list of qualifiers, and come back to Second Half all weekend for coverage from all four Finals sites.
Girls Division 1
Team: Macomb Dakota broke Davison’s three-season hold on Division 1 last year (Davison finished runner-up), and Dakota has remained ranked No. 1 this winter – although the Cougars finished only second at their Regional at Sterling Lanes. Fourth-ranked Davison did win its division with a score of 3,736, which ranked fifth of 18 qualifying teams total. Unranked Bay City Western led the way with a Division 1-best 3,876 – the Warriors are in Division 1 this season after finishing runner-up in Division 2 in 2014 and 2015. Second-ranked Westland John Glenn, No. 5 St. Clair Shores Lakeview and unranked Farmington also were among top Regional scorers.
Singles: Of last season’s four semifinalists, only champion Allison Morris of Ann Arbor Huron graduated. The other three all are back; Davison junior Taylor Davis won her Regional with the second-highest score in Division 1, 1,283 pins, while Canton junior Meghan Macunovich and Caledonia sophomore Macailin Rodriguez also qualified again. Farmington junior Candyce Bradley paced the division with a 1,290, and Brighton sophomore Natalie Klein was right behind winning her Regional with a 1,278. Total, nine bowlers rolled between 1,240-1,290 last weekend, which could be an indicator of a tight race Saturday.
Boys Division 1
Team: Reigning champion Wayne Memorial is unranked but back in the mix after finishing second at its Regional at Super Bowl in Canton. But 11 of 18 qualifiers rolled 4,000 or higher last weekend, led by also-unranked Roseville, which with 4,248 pins held off No. 4 Macomb Dakota (4,198) in a Regional that produced the day’s two highest Division 1 scores. Both finished ahead of top-ranked Macomb L’Anse Creuse North, which also impressed with a 4,158. Flint Carman-Ainsworth, also unranked, had the day’s best score outside of Sterling Heights, winning its Regional at Royal Scot in Lansing with a 4,193.
Singles: L’Anse Creuse North senior Kyle Hayes was the only non-senior in the semifinals last season – he ended up runner-up – and he won his Regional last weekend with a Division 1-best 1,416 to clear the Sterling Heights field by 160 pins. Swartz Creek senior Chase Kaufman was one of only two other non-seniors to make the quarterfinals last season, and he posted the second-highest Regional score this time with a 1,393 at Royal Scot.
Girls Division 2
Team: Flint Kearsley has won the last two Division 2 championships and three of the last four, but entered the postseason ranked only No. 3 and finished second at its Regional to Mason by 136 pins. Top-ranked Jackson justified its spot with the top Division 2 Regional score in the state, 3,866, and No. 2 Tecumseh also showed its ranking to be true with the second-highest Division 2 score of 3,831. Only Mason, Charlotte and Sturgis (the latter two following Jackson at Kalamazoo’s Continental Lanes) also approached 3,800.
Singles: Last season’s Division 2 champion, Kayleigh Gonzalez of Muskegon Reeths-Puffer, also was a senior. But 2015 runner-up Kayla Wild is a senior now at Tecumseh and rolled a Regional-winning 1,299 last weekend. Flint Kearsley senior Hannah Ploof, a semifinalist in 2014, won her Regional in a Division 2-best 1,318, and Taylor Kennedy freshman Abigail Bird also made an impression finishing second to Wild with a 1,297 at Score Lanes in Taylor. Jackson junior Jamie Bleiler emerged as champion from a tight race in Kalamazoo that saw five qualifiers roll 1,206 or higher.
Boys Division 2
Team: Fourth-ranked Flint Kearsley also has owned the boys competition with two straight Finals championships and won its Regional with a 4,266 that was the second-highest score in all of Division 2. Unranked Taylor Kennedy earned the top statewide honor with a division-best 4,392 to win its Regional at Score Lanes. Total, seven teams cleared 4,000 pins at Regionals, including No. 2 Tecumseh, No. 3 Coldwater, No. 5 Sturgis and No. 9 Owosso – and also unranked Lansing Eastern, which finished second to Kearsley and with the third-highest score in the entire division of 4,156. Top-ranked St. Clair Shores Lake Shore also was a Regional champ rolling a 3,898 at Oak Lanes in Westland.
Singles: Reigning champion Chad Stephen, a senior at Kearsley, finished third at his Regional with a 1,269 behind junior teammate Bryce McKerchie (1,273) and Lansing Waverly junior champion Nick Behrens (1,275). The top two Regional scores from the division came out of Taylor, where New Boston Huron senior Cody Farr rolled a 1,361 and Melvindale sophomore Marcus McClain followed him with a 1,311. Sturgis senior Michael Fitzsimmons was a quarterfinalist last season and just made the cut this time with a ninth-place finish, but junior teammate Austin Robison won the Regional at Kalamazoo with a 1,295 that was the third-highest score in the division for the day.
Girls Division 3
Team: Top-ranked Croswell-Lexington, the champion in 2014, was a Regional champion this time by more than 350 pins with a score of 3,478. But unranked Flat Rock made the biggest impression, rolling a 3,847 to win its Regional at Flat Rock Lanes by more than 600 pins. Reigning champion Corunna also was a Regional winner, as was No. 3 Yale, No. 6 Hudsonville Unity Christian and unranked Cheboygan.
Singles: Reigning runner-up Breanna Johnson, a junior at Dundee, is the lone semifinalist back as the other three last season were seniors. She finished runner-up at last weekend’s Regional to Flat Rock senior Kayla Jackson, who rolled the highest score in Division 3 of 1,189. Saginaw Swan Valley junior Becca Curtis just missed that honor, winning her Regional with a count of 1,186, and Grand Rapids West Catholic junior Katelyn LaBelle was right there too winning her Regional with a 1,173.
Boys Division 3
Team: Second-ranked Jonesville (4,056) and unranked Croswell-Lexington (4,027) were the only teams in Division 3 to break 4,000 pins last weekend, both winning Regionals in the process. Top-ranked Corunna just missed qualifying for the Finals, while reigning champion Armada is in Division 2 this season and reigning runner-up (and No. 4-ranked) Richmond also didn’t qualify. Third-ranked Essexville Garber should also be in the mix after winning its Regional with a 3,747, and three more teams cleared 3,800 pins.
Singles: Reigning champion Tyler Kolassa of Warren Lincoln is back, placing third at the Regional after winning Division 3 as a sophomore. Jonesville’s Jonah Boot was a semifinalist last season and won his Regional with a 1,168. Total, seven competitors last weekend including Kolassa cleared 1,200 pins; Marine City’s Jonathan Dean scored highest with 1,238 also at Kolassa’s Regional at Cherry Hill Lanes in Dearborn Heights. Battle Creek Pennfield junior Bailey Neal had the second-highest Division 3 score, winning his Regional at Eastland Bowl in Kalalamazoo with a 1,242.
Girls Division 4
Team: After making only the Quarterfinals last season and seeing its two-year title streak come to an end, Vandercook Lake is a favorite again to win its fourth Division 4 title in six seasons. The Jayhawks cleared the rest of the Division 4 field with a Regional score last week of 3,708 – nearly 300 pins better than the next best, reigning Finals champion St. Louis (3,433). However, six more teams cleared 3,300 pins and will be hoping Vandercook Lake stays close to the pack Friday.
Singles: They Jayhawks also had the two highest-scoring singles in Division 4, freshman Mackenzie Johnson at 1,192 and senior Lillian Warner and 1,162. Hanover-Horton senior Emma Davis was the Division 4 singles champion last season, and she should be among those chased again; her 1,136 Regional score was fourth-best for all of Division 4 and third at her Regional behind only the Vandercook Lake pair.
Boys Division 4
Team: None of the last three Division 4 champions qualified for team competition Friday, and neither did top-ranked Ithaca. Second-ranked Vandercook Lake did, as Regional runner-up to Hudson, which had the second-highest score in Division 4 (3,817) to unranked Rogers City (3,840). St. Charles and St. Louis, ranked Nos. 3 and 4, respectively, took the top two spots at the Regional where Ithaca finished outside the top three, and Nos. 5 and 6 Bad Axe and Sandusky both broke 3,700 pins to take the top two places at Bay Lanes in Bay City.
Singles: The two bowlers who combined to win the last three championships are both back – two-time reigning winner Kyle Tuttle, a St. Charles junior, won his Regional with a score of 1,270, while 2013 champ Bailey Budnick of Rogers City just made the Finals one more time with a 10th-place finish at his Regional. Only 12 bowlers in Division 4 broke 1,200 pins last Saturday, but only Adrian Madison senior Isaac Solis broke 1,300 – he won his Regional with a 1,307. The two bowlers Tuttle beat in the final rounds last season both also will be back – Oscoda sophomore Grant Huebel was a semifinalist in 2015 and qualified fifth from his Regional, and Bad Axe senior Ethan Sobczak is the reigning Finals runner-up and finished one spot ahead of Huebel last weekend at Bay Lanes.
PHOTO: The Flint Kearsley girls and boys bowling teams pose with their trophies after both repeated as Division 2 champions last season.
Kearsley Girls Return to Top, Divine Child Boys Earn 1st Title
By
Jason Schmitt
Special for MHSAA.com
March 26, 2021
WATERFORD – The journey began a long time ago for the Flint Kearsley girls bowling team.
Nearly 10 years for some of the team’s seniors.
It didn’t begin when they entered high school four years ago. It began with a bus ride from Dowdall Elementary School to Richfield Bowl back in the second grade.
“I definitely started bowling for Kearsley when I was at Dowdall, in second grade,” senior Allison Robbins said. “It was fun. And now it’s my last year (at Kearsley) and it’s going to be hard to leave.”
Richfield offers an after-school bowling program for the Dowdall students. It busses the kids over to the bowling alley and offers the future Hornets a chance to get a head start on the competition. And it definitely has paid off.
Kearsley topped the competition at the Division 2 Finals on Friday at Century Lanes in Waterford, defeating reigning champion Mason, 1,186-1,166, in the title-clinching match. It was the school’s eighth Finals championship since 2012.
“We have the after-school program and a middle school program,” first-year head coach Kevin Shute said. “It really gets the ball rolling. By the time they’re freshmen, they’ve got years of bowling under their belt. They already know what they’re doing. It’s just a matter of going out and executing.”
Shute’s team executed from start to finish Friday afternoon. The Hornets were the top-seeded team out of block qualifying, shooting a 3,440, nearly 300 pins better than second-seeded Mason. They defeated Bay City Western in the round of eight before knocking off St. Clair Shores Lake Shore in the semifinals, 1,321-1,065.
Kearsley led Mason by 55 pins after the two Baker games and rolled a clean first frame (five strikes) to get off to a good start in the regular games. Seniors Megan Timm and Emilea Sturk rolled games of 190 and 188 to help their team hold on for the victory.
“It feels really good, especially beating the team that knocked us out last year,” Robbins said, wiping away tears after winning her third Finals team title in four years. “It’s great to be able to get that redemption and show that we are better bowlers than we were that day.”
Despite trailing after the Baker games, Mason did not give up. The Bulldogs collected marks in their first eight frames of the individual game and were within striking range entering the 10th frame. The 2020 champions were led by senior Grace Ann Whipple, who shot a 237 to lead all bowlers in the championship match.
Mason shot a 3,160 in qualifying and defeated Melvindale and Whitehall en route to the final.
Kearsley will graduate five seniors, all of whom will be bowling in college. Allison Eible will be bowling at Valparaiso University, Rhyan Langdon-Yaklin at Cleary University, Robbins at Tusculum University, Sturk at Florida A&M University and Timm at Trine University.
On the boys side, Dearborn Divine Child rallied past Chelsea to claim its first-ever MHSAA Finals championship. Entering match play as the 3-seed, the Falcons defeated sixth-seeded Grand Rapids Kenowa Hills by 28 pins in the round of eight, then edged out second-seeded Tecumseh by just three pins, 1,385-1,382, in the semifinals.
At that point coach Nick Ploucha’s team was staring at a matchup against fourth-seeded Chelsea, which was fresh off an upset win over top-seeded and reigning champion Jackson Northwest.
The Bulldogs rolled Baker games of 220 and 190 to take a 74-pin lead over Divine Child into the regular games.
“There are a lot of teams that scream and yell, hoot and holler, and we just kind of wait our turn,” Ploucha said. “We knew we were 74 pins down but we were patient and we began chipping away at the lead. The kids were dynamite. You could feel them start to move the locomotive, a little bit every frame, and they finished it.”
Sophomore Andrew Carl bowled a 231 to lead the comeback, while junior Paul Scheuher and senior Noelle Jackson rolled games of 226 and 210 as the Falcons shot a team score of 1,022. Seniors Adam Thompson and Shane Green shot 181 and 174 in their team’s win.
Divine Child shot 3,545 in qualifying play, while Chelsea shot 3,442.
Just six years ago, Ploucha inherited a team that was returning zero bowlers.
“We’ve told the kids over the years to continue to be patient,” Ploucha said. “Last year, we wanted to just make it to the state Finals. We tried to have a good time this year, we wanted to qualify (for match play). Once we qualified, we just said, ‘Let’s see where this takes us.’ ”