![Flint Kearsley's Jameson Vanier poses for a photo after his Division 2 title win.](/sites/default/files/2024-03/240302_D2b_2H.png)
Vanier Finishes Sizzling Finals Weekend Adding Singles Title to Team Win
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
March 2, 2024
WATERFORD — Flint Kearsley boys bowling coach Bart Rutledge had a premonition fairly early about sophomore Jameson Vanier during the Division 2 Singles Bowling Finals.
After Vanier finished as the fifth seed coming out of the qualifying block, Rutledge said he turned to his assistant during the round of 16 match against Sparta junior Josiah Reister and offered this proclamation.
“I told my assistant coach in the second game that he’s going to win (the state title),” Rutledge said.
Rutledge’s instincts proved accurate, as Vanier continued a hot stretch to finish the season by rolling to the individual title.
Vanier was sizzling in the Final, bowling scores of 254 and 235 to earn a 489-362 victory over Madison Heights Lamphere junior Nolan Pepper.
It was easy for Rutledge to believe in Vanier, given that over the final three weeks of the season Vanier averaged around 240 and bowled a 300 game.
“He’s been on fire,” Rutledge said.
Following a 407-322 win over Reister, Vanier went on to beat Carleton Airport senior Colin Peterson in the Quarterfinals (419-388) and Grand Rapids Northview junior Cadyn Pranger in the Semifinals (499-409), rolling a 275 in the second game.
Vanier said when he was in eighth grade, he decided to switch from a one-handed throw to a two-handed method, and it has produced wondrous results.
“I thought I threw the ball a lot better, and I thought my potential was higher,” he said. “I got it right. It was comfort, and I scored a lot higher doing it.”
In the Final, Vanier only had two frames in the first game where he didn’t throw strikes, starting with three in a row and ending with three in a row.
Vanier struggled in the first part of the second game, but caught fire again late, finishing with seven straight strikes and letting out a furious yell after bowling a strike on his final ball in the 10th frame as teammates came to mob him.
Pepper was seeded seventh out of the qualifying block and earned wins over Bay City John Glenn junior Nathan Gwizdala (374-346) in the round of 16, Warren Woods Tower senior Clinton Harris in the Quarterfinals (403-390) and Tecumseh junior Parker Ziemer in the Semifinals (395-344) before running into the buzzsaw that was Vanier in the Final.
It was an unbeaten weekend for Vanier, who was a part of Kearsley’s second-straight team championship as well.
With two more seasons left, Vanier might be a good bet to win another individual title. But for now, the multi-sport athlete will turn his attention to strikes of a different kind as a member of Kearsley’s baseball team.
“It was a strike just about every time,” Vanier said. “I felt good every single time.”
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D1 Standouts Finish Careers on Top
March 7, 2015
By Jon Malavolti
Special for Second Half
STERLING HEIGHTS – Redemption was the theme at Saturday’s MHSAA Division 1 Bowling Singles Final competition at Sunnybrook Lanes.
Ann Arbor Huron senior Allison Morris capped off her career the same way she started it – as the MHSAA champion. For boys title winner Derrick Norman, it was all about putting the past behind him, as the Saginaw Heritage senior previously had come up just shy of winning; he was a quarterfinalist in last year’s individual tournament, and twice finished as a runner-up as a member of his team – this year and in 2013.
Morris edged Canton sophomore Meghan Macunovich 512-470 in their championship match. The Huron senior jumped out to an early lead thanks to bowling 10 straight strikes in the first game, finishing with a 286-213 advantage.
“Once I started stringing strikes together, it was just kind of ‘Keep doing it,’” Morris said.
She nearly needed every pin, as Macunovich came storming back in the second game, which she won 257-226.
“It was huge because you saw how she game out of the gates the second game, so it gave me a good advantage,” Morris said of her early lead.
While the pair exchanged strikes, they also shared the occasional congratulatory gesture, as they are friends off the lanes.
“Meghan is one of my really good friends, so we were just trying to have fun,” Morris said. But she added that it can be “tough to play someone you know,” a sentiment shared by Macunovich.
“Our coaches teach us, even if you’re friends with a person, act like you don’t know them,” the Canton sophomore said. “That’s what got her through. And then when I started bowling like I should, the second game, that’s what I was doing.”
Macunovich realized her rally should have come sooner to keep up with her friend, but was pleased overall with her result, and for Morris.
“I started striking too late. I just didn’t do it soon enough,” she said. “I am happy about it. I’m happy for her too.”
And she knows it’s an experience she can build on.
“I’m really confident coming off of this,” Macunovich said. “I wasn’t necessary expecting even to make the cut. I was just glad to make it. The fact that I ran it through and made it, I’m feeling pretty good.”
Morris felt pretty good too, accomplishing the goal she’s set out to match for the past three seasons.
“My freshman year, I was kinda just going in for fun,” she said. “I tried to bowl my best, and ended up winning. Sophomore year, I felt a lot of pressure going into it, I was kind of in my sophomore slump, I guess, I didn’t really have a good season.
“Junior year I made states, was trying to win, made top 16. So ever since my freshman year, everyone’s been telling me you have to go in and go out the same way, so that’s just what I was trying to do this year, was finish the way I started.”
The boys competition was a little tenser at the end, with Norman eventually edging Macomb L’Anse Creuse North junior Kyle Hayes 488-469.
“It’s unbelievable. I’m blessed. It hasn’t really sunk in yet,” Norman said, just 24 hours after the Hawks’ senior-laden squad fell just short of the title in the Team Final.
“You win some, you lose some,” he added. “Today was just a new day. I just put yesterday behind me.”
Heritage coach Todd Hare said he was “a little concerned” how his bowlers would handle the quick turnaround amidst the tough competition.
“We had four guys bowling today. I thought maybe they’d run out of gas,” he said.
But it wasn’t the physical toll that made a difference on the day, although it wasn’t easy. Yet, his coach said, it was Norman’s focus that allowed him to rise to the top this time.
“He’s worked really hard at staying focused; nothing rattles him,” Hare said. “He bowled well last year, but I think that’s the difference this year – it’s all mental at this point. It’s just, you know, a testament to all the work he puts in. He works so hard at his game.”
Norman said before today’s competition he focused on making this a “business trip” to bring the title home.
“It feels amazing,” he said. “Just to win it all, that’s what I came here to do.”
But before he was crowned champion, he had to fend off a fierce competitor in Hayes, who won the first game 244-224.
Norman said his plan was to match whatever Hayes did: “If he left something, to strike.”
And strike he did. Norman started, and then later finished, the second game with five consecutive strikes to win 264-225 and clinch the title.
“Just an amazing ride,” Norman reflected.
Hayes said there was “really no room for errors” and that the Final would be decided by “who missed first.”
“And I ended up having that one opening in the second (game) that ended up costing the whole match,” he said. “It just proves how consistent you have to be to be a champion.”
As for Hayes, he also hopes he can build from the experience, especially after missing the cut for the knockout rounds of the Finals last year by nine pins.
“I’m pretty happy about it,” he said of his finish. “It’s a big improvement over last year. This year I just came in wanting to make the cut at states. I didn’t even care where I finished, so coming in second, that’s nothing to sneeze at.
“It leaves room for improvement, something else to accomplish,” Hayes continued. “I’ll savor it now and work harder in the summer, so that I’m first next year.”
Click for full girls results and boys results.