Unforgettable Afternoon Nets Traverse City Christian Boys' 1st Finals Title
By
Scott DeCamp
Special for MHSAA.com
March 1, 2024
MUSKEGON – Lunch may not have been sitting too well with members of Traverse City Christian’s boys bowling team Friday afternoon.
The Sabres struggled, by their standards, during the qualifying block of the MHSAA Division 4 Final at Northway Lanes and didn’t know if they’d even make match play.
They felt much better before dinner time. Traverse City Christian ripped through bracket play and captured the first Finals title in the school’s boys bowling history, capping the run with a three-games-to-one victory over Jonesville in the championship match.
About 90 minutes later, Traverse City Christian’s girls team seized the state title for a Sabres sweep.
“When (the boys bowlers) went into lunch, we didn’t even know if we made it into the (bracket) – the final eight – because they weren’t doing so hot,” Traverse City Christian coach Andy Radtke said. “I was really disappointed because they worked so hard. To me, that was the hugest thing.
“And then to come out and shoot the 256 Baker right off the bat, I mean, it changed the narrative.”
Traverse City Christian shot 256 in its first game of a Quarterfinal sweep against Houghton Lake. The Sabres shot 256, 200, and 193 in the quarters. In a 3-1 Semifinal win over St. Charles, the Sabres went 201, 200, 201, and 169.
In the Final, Traverse City Christian and Jonesville alternated Baker game wins. The Sabres took the first (180-169) and third (194-161) and the Comets won the second game (196-181). TCC won the decisive fourth game by the slimmest of margins, 200-199, when the last Jonesville bowler threw a decent ball but left the 4-6-7-9-10 pins in what bowlers call the “Greek Church.”
“That last shot was unbelievable. That was still a good shot and maybe a seven-count was what we needed (to win the fourth game), but with the Greek Church, that was brutal,” said Jonesville coach Matt Molinaro, whose 2018 squad captured the Division 3 title at Northway Lanes. The Comets won a Division 4 championship in 2014 as well.
“I had a couple of guys that were struggling,” Molinaro said. “They couldn’t get through it. Then it was too late in the game to try and sub out. … I really thought we were going to be OK. After that third game, I grouped them up and said, ‘Hey, you know we’re winning this, right?’ (The bowlers responded) ‘Yeah, we’re winning.’ And then we came out and they answered. They did everything they had to do.”
Brent Wheat, the “mechanics guy” on Traverse City Christian’s coaching staff and Radtke’s son-in-law, wasn’t certain at the time what the Sabres needed to do to pull off the fourth game.
In fairness to Wheat, he hustles back and forth between boys and girls competitions and he was trying to keep an eye on Traverse City Christian’s girls squad that was taking on Jonesville in a Semifinal.
“It took a minute to process because we thought that we weren’t going to win that game (game four), and then (the Jonesville bowler’s) ball went unfortunately a little heavy. And then we were doing the math, trying to figure it out, and then it clicked, ‘Oh, my gosh, it was one pin,’” Wheat said. “There’s this elation down there, all these happy thoughts, and I have to come down to the girls. We’re in a battle with Jonesville in the Semifinals for the girls.”
Traverse City Christian was the final of eight squads to make it out of the 16-team qualifying block. The Sabres totaled 3,107 pins in qualifying rounds. Houghton Lake finished first in qualifying at 3,472.
Jonesville was second in qualifying at 3,377. In best-of-five match play, Jonesville beat Riverview Gabriel Richard in the Quarterfinal (3-1) and Saginaw Nouvel Catholic Central in the Semifinal (3-0).
Traverse City Christian’s team featured two seniors, one junior, one sophomore, and two freshmen, which makes Wheat pretty optimistic about the future as well.
For Sabres senior Tristan Lhamon, the time was now to realize the dream.
“This means a lot. These are some of my best friends, and I get to do it with them. It’s an amazing thing, and I love it,” Lhamon said. “We are really good at persevering. We have to battle some of the top D-1 teams, and we are so bonded by Jesus Christ, our Lord and savior, all of us, and we work together, we fight, and we’re really good at it.”
Wheat called the Traverse City Christian bowling program “a family business.”
Business was really good Friday.
“My in-laws and I started doing this 16 years ago,” Wheat said. “Our first year here, we took one boy, he was in ninth grade, and we said, ‘Man, wouldn’t it be cool to make it some day?’ And then we won one of these with the girls over COVID and it was like, ‘Gosh, this is unreal. We never thought that it was even possible.’ And then a dream happens today … I’m speechless, really.”
Roll Offs Decide D1 Championships
March 2, 2013
By Greg Chrapek
Special to Second Half
MUSKEGON – The MHSAA Division 1 Finals at Northway Lanes in Muskegon were not a place for the faint of heart Saturday.
In both the girls and the boys divisions, the eventual champions needed to win a roll off en route to winning a singles bowling title.
For Grand Ledge junior Barbara Lawson, her roll off came in the Semifinals against Nicole Mikaelian of Macomb Dakota. After battling to a 334-334 tie, Lawson was on her game in the roll off as she won 48-26 to make it into the championship match.
“That match was really scary,” Lawson said. “I was worried in that one.”
With that behind her, Lawson started her championship match in high gear and never let her foot off the pedal. She turned back senior Alyssa Meade of Macomb L’Anse Creuse North 419-323. Lawson won game one 200-121 as she rolled strikes in four of the first five frames and marked in all but one frame.
Lawson snuffed out any hope of a comeback by Meade in the second game as she opened with four straight strikes en route to a 219- 202 win.
“It feels awesome,” Lawson said. “I felt I got a little lucky, but I threw the ball well all day.”
“It helped getting the big lead in the first game,” she added. “It was kind of all bonus points after that.”
Lawson just missed making the Finals match play last season as she finished 17th in qualifying, one spot short. This time, she finished 12th in the opening block.
Meade, who finished third in qualifying, reached the finals by turning back Heather Baur of Davison 349-312. A senior who has made three trips to the Finals, Meade was proud of reaching the last match of the day and capping off a memorable high school bowling career.
“I’ve been to states three years and this was the first time I qualified for the finals,” Meade said. “It was my goal the last four years to make it to the finals, and this means a lot to me. This has been a great experience for me. High school bowling has made me a new person. I have so many memories and it was such a great experience. I fell a little short today, but this is what I worked for and no matter what I am proud of myself.”
If Jeff Pietryka of Clinton Township Chippewa Valley High School didn’t have a nickname coming into the Division 1 Boys Final, he certainly could’ve left with one.
Cardiac Kid would be one appropriate moniker for Pietryka, who lived on the edge Saturday, but came away with the championship.
Pietryka gave the packed house at Northway Lanes plenty of chills and thrills as he wound his way to a victory in a roll off against Alex Zarbaugh of Belleville.
“It was my goal to win it before the season,” Pietryka said. “It was definitely a tight match at the end, but a couple of breaks went my way.”
Pietryka’s title match with Zarbaugh was a see-saw struggle with both bowlers getting on hot streaks, but neither able to pull away. Pietryka won the first game 180-166, marking in all but one frame and totaling seven spares.
Adding to the tension of the match was the fact that Pietryka was battling a physical problem and needed to have his arm massaged between frames.
“It was the first time it popped up,” Pietryka said. “I was able to work through it after a while. It was a kink in a tendon in my arm that would cause a couple of my fingers to cramp up.”
Pietryka started the second game strong, but was unable to shake the determined Zarbaugh, who would not let him expand on his lead. Zarbaugh posted a strike in the fourth frame, and after a spare in the fifth, rolled three consecutive strikes to take a 21-point lead in the eighth frame and a seven-pin overall lead.
Pietryka, however, continued to battle away and posted strikes of his own in the sixth, seventh, ninth and 10th frames.
Pietryka still held the overall lead going into the 10th frame, but the door was open for Zarbaugh to tie the match. With a spare in the 10th, Zarbaugh needed a strike to tie, and he delivered to the roar of the crowd.
The match then went to a two-frame roll off. Pietryka rolled a strike in his first frame, and Zarbaugh countered with a spare. Zarbaugh then opened the next frame with a strike but left one pin standing on his next roll, finishing the frame with a spare and a score of 40.
Pietryka answered with a strike on his next ball and then fell nine pins and finished with a strike for a 49 to win the roll off and the title.
“It was a back and forth match the whole way,” Pietryka said. “We were probably never more than 20 pins apart.”
The title match was just the capper on a thrilling day for Pietryka, who virtually walked a tight rope to the championship match. Pietryka made the match play with little room to spare, as he finished 13th in qualifying with a 1,225 total, nine pins above 17th place and falling short.
Pietryka won his round of 16 and quarterfinal matches with room to spare, but his semifinal match with Brad Wozniak, the No.-1 seed from Traverse City West, was as close as it gets. Pietryka edged Wozniak 377-373 but needed to throw strikes on both of his first two balls in the 10th frame.
“I always love to bowl under pressure,” Pietryka said. “I bowl in the anchor spot for my team and I love having the pressure on me.”
For Zarbaugh, coming up just short was a disappointment, but it could not dampen what had been a tremendous tournament run.
“You can’t end it any better then in a roll off,” Zarbaugh said. “He won it fair and square. I came into this tournament hoping to qualify for the finals, and I made it all the way to the championship match. I exceeded all my goals, and next year I want to come back and do it even better.”
A junior, Zarbaugh finished third in qualifying with a 1,261 total. Zarbaugh reached the finals by turning back Derek Nyenhuis of Wyoming 394-373 in the semifinals.
Click for full girls results and boys results.
Girls Top 8, from left-to-right: Alyssa Meade, Macomb L'Anser Creuse North; Heather Baur, Davison; Madalyn Klein, Walled Lake Western; Shamonica Simon, Flint Carman-Ainsworth; Alicia Babicz, Lake Orion; Nicole Mikaelian, Macomb Dakota and Barbara Lawson, Grand Ledge.
Boys Top 8, from left-to-right: Jack Herndell, Howell; Jacob Kersten, Clarkston; Zach Schneider, Grandville; George Wade, Jackson; Brad Wozniak, Traverse City Central; Derek Nyenhuis, Wyoming; Alex Zarbaugh, Belleville; and Jeff Piertryka, Clinton Twp Chippewa Valley.