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.
Jack Pine Powers Shepherd, Gladwin Sweep D3 Championships
By
Tim Robinson
Special for MHSAA.com
March 5, 2022
JACKSON — Dave Carson’s Shepherd girls team had been knocking off higher seeds all afternoon long, but seemed to hit a wall against Cheboygan in Friday’s Division 3 Girls Bowling Final.
“After the two baker games, we were up by about 60 pins, he said. “In the fifth frame, we were still up by about 30, and I pulled my girls together and I told them, ‘Forget about how the first five frames went. I don’t care about your scores now. Just win me the last five frames.’ And they did.”
As a result, the Bluejays, who had never competed in the MHSAA Tournament, or even won a conference championship, are Finals champions.
“It was closer than it needed to be,” Carson joked.
The Bluejays, who squeaked into the quarterfinals by 18 pins over Boyne City, ousted top seed Kent City by 12 pins and No. 4 seed Flint Powers by 23 before downing sixth-seeded Cheboygan in the final, 1,041-987.
“We started faltering a bit in the middle of the last game,” Carson said. “They were getting tired. Both teams did. You could see it. We just weathered the storm a little longer than they did.”
It was the first bowling state title for Shepherd, and Carson admitted it came as a surprise to him.
“They had the potential to do it,” he said. “They had the potential last year, but didn’t gel as a team. This year, they gelled as a team all season.”
The Bluejays won the Jack Pine Conference title for the first time, then finished third in their Regional to punch a ticket to Jax 60, site of the Finals.
There was a certain bit of familial ties as well.
Carson’s cousin, Kendra Walch, was one of the Bluejays’ top bowlers, and he went to high school with Josh King, the coach at Mid-Michigan Community College whose daughter Amelia was a team member.
Amelia King was in the starting lineup for Shepherd, while Walch rolled a 187 to lead Shepherd in the final. Walch and Sara Montney took turns leading the team throughout the day.
“I told them throughout the season they had the potential to do it,” Carson said. “This was beyond my expectations to bring a team here the first year and win the whole thing.”
The future looks bright for Shepherd. Montney is a sophomore and Walch a junior.
“It’s a great feeling,” Carson said, laughing. “Everything seemed to come together this year. They started acting as a team, more than as individuals.”
Shelby Rolston was the only senior on this year’s Shepherd team.
“I’ve had her for four years and watched her grow,” Carson said. “It all came together, and I’m glad I was able to win it with her.”
It was the first trip to the final for Cheboygan as well. The Chiefs downed No. 3 Jonesville by 30 pins and rolled past No. 2 Hudsonville Unity Christian in the semifinals.
Jenna Knaffle had a game-high 210 and Izzy Portman rolled a 171 for Cheboygan.
Gladwin’s boys bowling team was the top seed after qualifying and the Flying G’s acted like it down the stretch, beating Midland Bullock Creek by a wide margin to take their second Finals title in four years.
“The first match (against eighth-seeded Armada) was kind of close,” Gladwin coach Kent Crawford said, “but we persevered and kept picking up spares.”
Gladwin then dispatched Standish-Sterling by 126 pins in the semifinals before taking the title with a 1,287-1,110 victory over Bullock Creek.
It was the third overall Finals title – all sports included – for the Flying G’s, who won the Class C girls basketball title in 1975.
Friday’s title had a family connection. Ethan Weston was on the 2019 champ, while Brady Weston is a mainstay on a Gladwin team that saw four bowlers roll a score of 200 or more. Weston had a 200 in the final.
But it was a freshman who led Gladwin on Friday.
Brayden Phillips rolled a 211, second only to JR Phillips’ 225. Gladwin rolled a 993 as a team in the final round, which was more than enough to overcome a 72-pin deficit after Baker play.
“We said, ‘Man, we need to get to work,” Crawford said. “They’re going to give us a run for our money. They were ahead of us for a little while until about the fifth frame, and then we started striking and you could tell they were getting fatigued.”
Meanwhile, the Flying G’s were getting a little too quiet for Crawford’s taste.
“I started to raise my voice to keep them pumped up,'' Crawford said. “Our guys started to sit down, and I said, ‘Boys, you’ve got to stand up. Let’s go!’ I wanted to keep everyone moving, and they came through. They started striking and having a good time and hollering and yelling and we passed them.”
But, Crawford said, the match wasn’t decided until the 10th frame.
“It could have gone either way if (Bullock Creek) had gotten more strikes,” he said.
Instead, the Flying G’s went home with a trophy and Crawford with a good feeling about Brayden Phillips, whom he called his “horse.”
“He kind of came out of the woodwork,” Crawford said. “He was getting spares and strikes, and he was just on course today.”
Crawford feels good knowing he’ll have Phillips for three more seasons.
“Especially with him,” Crawford said. “The rest of the group is sophomores, so I get a couple more years with them, too.”
The Flying G’s finished second in the Jack Pine Conference.
Gladwin lost to Sanford Meridian in league play, but got its measure of revenge during qualifying. Meridian was the No. 7 seed, but was eliminated by Madison Heights Bishop Foley in the quarterfinals.
The key, Crawford said, is team chemistry.
“Most of these boys have grown up together,” he said. “Most of them are sophomores. They’ve played football together since they were 5 or 6 years old. They hang out together. They support each other 110 percent.”
Coaching is a cooperative affair as well.
Crawford, who describes himself as “the CEO,” is assisted by Dan Hagar and Kevin Van Tiem.
Bullock Creek, which was in its first Final, got there as the No. 6 seed.
The Lancers downed No. 3 Jonesville and No. 2 seed Bishop Foley to advance.
Cole Gilbert had a 158 to pace the Lancers, who saw four of their five bowlers roll a 150 or better in the final.
PHOTOS Shepherd and Gladwin bowlers send shots during Friday's Division 3 Team Finals at Jax 60. (Click to see more from Champions Photography.)