Seniors Standouts Cap Careers with D1 Wins
By
Jason Schmitt
Special for MHSAA.com
March 2, 2019
ALLEN PARK – The minute she saw the match play draw at Saturday’s Division 1 Bowling Singles Finals, Oxford’s Megan Armbruster’s eyes lit up. She had already mentally circled a name on her half of the draw.
A year ago Armbruster’s dreams of winning an individual championship were dashed by Jenison’s Lauren Slagter, who ousted Armbruster in the first round of match play. It’s something that did not sit well with the Wildcats senior. So when she saw a potential semifinal matchup at this year’s Finals, she was all in.
“(Slagter) had knocked me out last year and I was upset,” Armbruster said. “After I won the quarterfinal match here today, I noticed that I had to play her and I just wanted to get revenge.”
She certainly got her revenge, and then went on to defeat St. Clair Shores Lake Shore sophomore Dani Decruydt in the title match, 416-367, at Thunderbowl Lanes in Allen Park.
“It feels so awesome to finish my career off like that,” said Armbruster, who was seeded 12th out of the qualifying round. “It was super quiet out there, and my legs were shaking, but I didn’t feel my nerves at all. I just kept throwing the ball, staying super calm and shooting the ball one at a time.”
Armbruster collected four strikes in her first five frames of the final and did not have an open frame the entire first game. She led Decruydt by 34 pins after Game 1 and calmly pulled away for the first Finals singles bowling title in Oxford history.
“I’m especially proud of Megan. Her brother (Eric) bowled for me when she was like in the sixth grade,” said her coach, J.R. Lafnear. “She saw her brother bowl … and she fell in love with the sport.
“So she began working with us. Her mom and the rest of her family are outstanding supporters of our program. For her it’s special.”
Armbruster defeated Taylor’s Abigail Bird in her first match of the day before ousting Flushing’s Evelyn Cano in the quarterfinals.
Decruydt was the seventh seed after six games of qualifying action. She defeated Farmington-Harrison’s Carrington Beaman in her first match and followed it up with wins over Holt’s Gabriella Van Horn and Jenison’s Anna Bartz to reach the Final.
“Dani never gets too high or too low,” said her coach, Jeff Villasurda. “The great thing about Dani is that nothing ever really fazes her. Nothing’s too big for her. So she wasn’t really fazed by what was going on out there. The other girl just made a couple extra shots.”
Over on the boys’ side, Brownstown Woodhaven senior Jeff Lizewski went out in style, catching fire at just the right time.
After piecing together a mediocre qualifying block score of 1,210 – good for just the 15th seed – Lizewski averaged a 222 over eight games of match play, capping things off with a 453-322 victory over Jenison senior Nick Slagter.
Lizewski strung together five straight strikes to open the final and never really had to look back.
“I came out of qualifying 15th, and I started off real bad. I didn’t have a good look at all in the first game,” said Lizewski, who reached the quarterfinal round last year as a junior. “I made a big ball switch, and I threw it until I came home with a win.”
Lizewski, who will be bowling at the University of Wisconsin at Whitewater next year, narrowly edged the 2-seed, Abery Thomas of Clinton Township Chippewa Valley, in his first match, 445-440. He then got past Macomb Dakota’s Kyle Finn, 443-435, in the quarterfinals and downed Salem’s John Hall, 433-325, in the semifinals.
Slagter defeated Saline’s Dallas Casey and Walled Lake Central’s Nick Casagrande and Jarrod Willbur in his next two matches to reach the final.
“If there was one person I’d want to lose to over there it would be Lizewski,” said Slagter, who wrapped up his high school career Saturday. “I have bowled against him in some out-of-season tournaments, and he’s filthy.
“I feel like I bowled great this weekend. I tried my best in the team event yesterday, and we fell just a little short in making the cut. But today, I did fall a little short in the championship match but I’m really happy overall. I had fun.”
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MHSAA Winter Sports Start with Extended Basketball Schedules, New Wrestling Weights
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
December 13, 2022
The addition of two games to basketball regular-season schedules and a new series of wrestling weight classes are likely the most noticeable Winter 2022-23 changes as an estimated 65,000 athletes statewide take part in 13 sports for which the Michigan High School Athletic Association sponsors postseason tournaments.
Girls gymnastics and boys ice hockey teams were able to begin practice Oct. 31, with the rest of those sports beginning in November – including also girls and boys basketball, girls and boys bowling, girls competitive cheer, girls and boys skiing, Upper Peninsula girls and boys and Lower Peninsula boys swimming & diving, and girls and boys wrestling.
A variety of changes are in effect for winter sports this season, including a several that will be noteworthy and noticeable to teams and spectators alike.
Basketball remains the most-participated winter sport for MHSAA member schools with 33,000 athletes taking part last season, and for the first time, basketball teams may play up to 22 regular-season games. This increase from the previous 20-game schedule allows more games for teams at every high school level – varsity, junior varsity and freshman.
Another significant change has been made in wrestling, as the majority of boys wrestling weight classes have been adjusted for this season in anticipation of a national change coming in 2023-24. The updated boys weight classes are 106, 113, 120, 126, 132, 138, 144, 150, 157, 165, 175, 190, 215 and 285 pounds. Only 215 and 285 remain from the previous lineup. There is also one change to girls weight classes, with the 255 class replaced by 235 to also align with national high school standards.
A series of notable changes will affect how competition takes place at the MHSAA Tournament levels. In hockey, in addition to a new classification process that spread cooperative and single-school programs evenly throughout the three playoff divisions, the MHSAA Tournament will employ two changes. The Michigan Power Ratings (MPR) will be used to seed the entire Regional round, not just the top two teams, and prior to the start of Semifinals, a seeding committee will reseed the remaining four teams in each division with the top seed in each then facing the No. 4 seed, and the No. 2 seed facing No. 3.
Bowling also will see an MHSAA Tournament change, as the Team Regional format will mirror the long-standing Team Final with teams playing eight Baker games and two regular games at both levels. And as also applied during the fall girls season, there is a new qualification process for divers seeking to advance to Lower Peninsula Boys Swimming & Diving Finals. In each of the three divisions, each Regional will be guaranteed 10 qualifiers for the Finals, with six more “floating” qualifier entries to be distributed to the Regionals that have one of the previous year’s top six returning Finals divers in their fields. If a team changes division from the previous season, any floating top-six spots are added to the six already allowed in the school’s new division.
A gymnastics rules change provides an opportunity for additional scoring during the floor exercise. A dance passage requirement was added in place of the former dance series requirement to encourage creativity and a more artistic use of dance. The dance passage requires gymnasts to include two Group 1 elements – one a leap with legs in cross or side split position, the other a superior element.
In competitive cheer, the penalty for going over the time limit in each round was adjusted to one penalty point for every second over the time limit, not to exceed 15 points. The new time limit rule is more lenient than the past penalty, which subtracted points based on ranges of time over the limit.
The 2022-23 Winter campaign culminates with postseason tournaments, as the championship schedule begins with the Upper Peninsula Girls & Boys Swimming & Diving Finals on Feb. 18 and wraps up with the Boys Basketball Finals on March 25. Here is a complete list of winter tournament dates:
Boys Basketball
Districts – March 6, 8, 10
Regionals – March 13, 15
Quarterfinals – March 21
Semifinals – March 23-24
Finals – March 25
Girls Basketball
Districts – Feb. 27, March 1, 3
Regionals – March 7, 9
Quarterfinals – March 14
Semifinals – March 16-17
Finals – March 18
Bowling
Regionals – Feb. 24-25
Finals – March 3-4
Competitive Cheer
District – Feb. 17-18
Regionals – Feb. 25
Finals – March 2-3
Gymnastics
Regionals – March 4
Finals – March 10-11
Ice Hockey
Regionals – Feb. 20-March 1
Quarterfinals – March 4
Semifinals – March 9-10
Finals – March 11
Skiing
Regionals – Feb. 13-17
Finals – Feb. 27
Swimming & Diving
Upper Peninsula Girls/Boys Finals – Feb. 18
Lower Peninsula Boys Diving Regionals – March 2
Lower Peninsula Boys Finals – March 10-11
Wrestling – Team
Districts – Feb. 8-9
Regionals – Feb. 15
Finals – Feb. 24-25
Wrestling – Individual
Districts – Feb. 11
Regionals – Feb. 18
Finals – March 3-4
The MHSAA is a private, not-for-profit corporation of voluntary membership by more than 1,500 public and private senior high schools and junior high/middle schools which exists to develop common rules for athletic eligibility and competition. No government funds or tax dollars support the MHSAA, which was the first such association nationally to not accept membership dues or tournament entry fees from schools. Member schools which enforce these rules are permitted to participate in MHSAA tournaments, which attract more than 1.3 million spectators each year.