Urben, Kiplinger Earn Schools' 1st Titles
March 3, 2018
By Tim Robinson
Special for Second Half
CANTON — A fast start proved to be the difference for Wayland’s Sydney Urben on Saturday.
She rolled strikes in the first four frames of her Division 2 Singles Final, and used that momentum to claim her school’s first MHSAA bowling championship.
“It gave me a lot of confidence,” she said, “because I knew Imari (Blond, of Flint Kearsley) is a really good bowler. I knew she would be tough competition. I knew I had to hang with her, and I did.”
Urben is no stranger to Finals. She was on the Wayland softball team when it won the Division 2 championship in 2015, and reached the Bowling Singles Finals the next year as a sophomore before losing to Flint Kearsley’s Hannah Ploof.
“My mindset (Saturday) was it’s my last time I’m ever going to be here,” Urben said. “(Winning the title) has been my goal since my sophomore year. I couldn’t get it done (last year). This time I gave myself a chance just by making the cut. So I might as well finish strong, you know?”
Urben won the first game 225-171, which gave her more than enough cushion as Blond won the second game 185-184.
Urben’s coaches, Sherry Miklusciak and Mike Omness, were proud both for their athlete and for their school as Wayland alums.
But they laughingly won’t take any credit for her success.
“She makes her own moves, all her own ball changes,” Miklusciak said. “She really coaches herself. We really don’t have a lot to do with her (bowling) at all. She is just amazing and powerful.”
And, Urben admitted, a little numb moments after her victory.
“It hasn’t really hit me yet,” she said. “I’m just really happy.”
Kearsley, which won its fifth consecutive team title Friday, had a chance to have an all-Kearsley final. Blond was on one side of the bracket and teammate Barbara Hawes in the other. But Urben beat Hawes by seven pins in the semifinals.
On the boys side, Alec Keplinger capped off a big week for Coldwater by winning the school’s first individual title in any sport in decades.
Keplinger, a junior, defeated Cadillac sophomore Kyle Vermilyea 431-325 in the championship match.
Keplinger also bowled Friday, when the Cardinals finished runner-up in the team meet, the best team finish in school history.
“I was here last year and made it to the top 16 and struggled after that,” Keplinger said.
That experience helped him Friday as well.
“It definitely was easier,” he said. “Not as much nerves and stuff.”
He held off Vermilyea in the first game, 199-172, then got on a roll in the second in a 232-152 victory.
“I was just staying calm in the second game, and I knew I had it,” Keplinger said. “I was just excited (afterward). I’ve been very close in many different (events), and I was super happy for my parents and my coach (Frank Demond). He’s been coaching a long time. It means a lot.”
Although Keplinger has plans to pursue a repeat title next year, he’s also looking ahead, having committed to bowl in college at Wichita State University.
In the meantime, he’ll continue to be a three-sport athlete. He plays tennis in the fall and golfs in the spring.
For now, though, he’ll savor his MHSAA Finals championship.
Click for full girls results and boys results.
- Boys Swim & Dive
- Wrestling
- Girls Swim & Dive
- Competitive Cheer
- Girls Bowling
- Girls Skiing
- Boys Skiing
- Girls Basketball
- Boys Basketball
- Boys Bowling
- Gymnastics
- Ice Hockey
- MHSAA News
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.