D3 Champs Emerge After Rough Starts

March 5, 2016

By Chip Mundy
Special for Second Half

JACKSON – Daniel Higgins of Olivet and Kayla Jackson of Flat Rock made their first appearances in the match-play portion of the MHSAA Division 3 singles bowling tournament Saturday at Airport Lanes.

The lack of experience in the MHSAA Tournament – and a subpar start in their qualifying rounds – did not slow them down a bit.

Jackson, a Regional champion, exploded for a 706 series in the final three games of the six-game qualifying block to earn the No. 2 seed for girls. Higgins, meanwhile, had games of 235 and 238 in the fourth and fifth games of qualifying to grab the No. 12 seed in match play.

From there, they rolled to the titles, although there were challenges along the way.

Higgins, a junior, defeated Bailey Neal of Battle Creek Pennfield 404-340 in the two-game championship match. Higgins led by five after the first game but wrapped up the championship with six strikes in a row from the third through eighth frames of the second game.

“I was struggling with my release throughout the day,” said Higgins, a right-hander who averaged 200.7 over 14 games Saturday. “Once I found the release that I was consistent with, I could follow through more consistently.

“I struggle with being consistent with my hand, so it was a struggle to keep it consistent all day.”

The road to the championship wasn’t easy for Higgins as he faced two opponents with a history of success in the MHSAA Tournament.

Higgins opened match play with a 377-363 victory over defending champion Tyler Kolassa, and in the Quarterfinals, Higgins topped Jonesville lefty Jonah Root 395-385. Higgins needed a mark in the 10th frame of the second game to defeat Root, a semifinalist a year ago.

In the Semifinals Saturday, Higgins had back-to-back games of 211 and 226 to defeat Robbie McKinnon of Birch Run 437-396. Neal, who had the second-highest Regional score in Division 3, awaited Higgins in the final.

Neal had a slight lead going into the 10th frame of the first game, but Higgins threw a double and 8-count for a 188-183 victory. Then he used the six-bagger in the second game to breeze to the 64-pin victory.

“Coming in, I just wanted to make the top 16,” Higgins said. “I’ve been in situations before when I get placed into a bracket and come out in the first round or second round and go home, but today was totally different.

“I was able to keep my composure throughout the day and come out with the championship.”

Higgins, who averaged 184 in his high school league, was trying to take it all in after the final match.

“I definitely didn’t think this was going to happen,” he said. “I just took it one shot at a time. I didn’t try to set any goals, I just came in and tried to execute. I’ve been doing well this past month.

“I’m just trying to keep calm, and it’s probably going to hit me sooner or later. Right now, I’m still trying to keep myself from freaking out and destroying the place.”

Jackson, a senior, struggled in her second and third games of qualifying before making a big adjustment.

“I did a ball change because I bowled a 148 my second game and I bowled a 175 in my third,” she said. “I changed my ball and moved to the right and it just happened to work out.”

Saying “it just happened to work out” is an understatement. Jackson finished qualifying with games of 268, 215 and 223 for a 706 series – the first 700 of her life. Jackson, who carried a 182 average this year, averaged a shade below 207 for the six-game qualifying block.

“That gave me a lot of confidence because I knew I found my line on the lanes,” said Jackson, a right-hander who averaged 201.4 for the 14 games Saturday. “As long as something didn’t change dramatically, I knew I was going to be pretty set for the day.

“I kept the same line the rest of the day and just had to make some small adjustments.”

Jackson won her first match 369-347 over Kylie Helms of Ovid-Elsie and ran into Alma freshman Sarah Gadde in the second round. Gadde, a member of the Alma team that won the team championship Friday, opened with a 10-pin victory over Jackson, who rebounded with a 213 in her second game for a 378-350 victory.

Jackson wasn’t seriously challenged in the Semifinals as she used a 240 second game for a 401-319 victory over Mikayla Kewley of Menominee. Jackson kept her momentum into the championship match, and her opponent, Sabrina Ball of Coloma, proved to be a tough opponent.

Ball had an early four-bagger in the first game but had three open frames in the final four as Jackson secured a 205-182 victory. But Ball wasn’t finished as she had five strikes in her first seven frames of the second game to make it a tight match. She ran into a split in the eighth frame and failed to convert, and Jackson took advantage of the opening.

Jackson, who had struck in the ninth, just needed five pins in two shots in the 10th to win the title, and she won it in style with a strike as she finished with 225 and a 430-400 victory.

“It felt good. I was so happy,” Jackson said. “I was nervous. I knew I had to get some strikes in a row, but I was making my spares.”

It was the third appearance in the Singles Finals for Jackson, whose previous finish was 18th when she missed the cut by 16 pins a year ago.

Aside from the championships, the big news of the day was a 300 game thrown by Freeland senior Brendan Welsh. It was the eighth 300 game thrown in the MHSAA bowling singles tournament and just the third since 2008.

The perfect game came in Welsh’s sixth and final game of qualifying and helped him earn the No. 1 seed with a 1,302 total. He lost in the Quarterfinals to McKinnon, who finished his second game with five strikes and an 8 count to beat Welsh by three pins, 397-394. Welsh had won the first game 211-171 but went home with the second 300 game of his life.

“At the beginning of the game, I moved a board left because the lanes had dried up a little bit,” he said. “I just hit 10 board all day.

“I was dead flush except for the first one in the 10th frame – it was a stone 7 pin, but a pin came down and hit it off the lane, and I was like, ‘Whew.’ The second one in the 10th was dead flush, and the third one I came in a little bit high and a pin slid across the lane and knocked down the 6-10.”

Welsh, who averaged 215 this season and had his first 300 game in October at Starburst Lanes in Saginaw, said bowling a perfect game in front of a large crowd for the MHSAA Tournament was challenging.

“It was nerve-wracking,” he said. “I was shaking and trying to breathe in and out and stay calm. I just did what I had to do.”

Click for full boys results and girls results.

PHOTOS: (Top) Flat Rock’s Kayla Jackson and Olivet’s Daniel Higgins. (Middle) Freeland’s Brendan Welsh. (Photos by Chip Mundy.)

D3 Champs Make Work Pay Off in Close Clinchers

By Jeff Bleiler
Special for MHSAA.com

March 6, 2020

JACKSON — History was made Friday, and it brought Jim Tesner to tears.

Never before in the history of sports at Essexville Garber High School had a team won an MHSAA Finals championship.

That changed when the girls bowling team won three matches, including a whisker-close Finals match against Clare at JAX 60, to put the first Division 3 Finals trophy in the Essexville Garber case.

And that history was not lost on Tesner.

“I keep repeating this: I always want them to only focus on what’s in front of them and not what’s behind them,” he said. “But there are exceptions, like this trophy we’re going to get. That’s behind us, but it matters.”

After taking a 34-pin lead after the two Baker games at 353-319, Garber used a clean ninth and 10th frame in the regular game to stave off Clare’s comeback. Clare shot 858 in the team game to Garber’s 829, but the Dukes did enough to win 1,182-1,177.

The Finals win provided a fitting end to the Dukes’ season that included an undefeated Tri-Valley Conference record, a conference tournament victory and a Regional championship.

“I don’t know, I’m at a loss for words,” said an emotional Tesner, who has made a couple different stops during his 30-year coaching career but has been with the Dukes for the past decade. “They bought into the system. Last year we missed going to states by 42 pins. We finished fifth (at the Regional). I just kept hammering that and hammering that. We missed so many spares, and this year we stepped up our spare game.”

Those spares came in handy in the Final. With Clare junior Sydney Swartz shooting 210 and senior Jenna Betts tossing 209 in the team game, the Dukes needed every mark. Tesner said Brittany Rohde’s 175 that included just one open frame was critical.

“I don’t know where she came (from), but she dug down,” Tesner said.

Rohde said making school history was the result of hard work.

“Everything we put into our games and practice, it pays off,” Rohde said. “Usually I get down on myself if I don’t do well, but I didn’t get down on myself and I kept my energy up.”

Garber qualified fourth after eight Baker games and two team games and downed Jonesville, 1,173-1,105, in the quarterfinals and then top-seeded Coloma — which shot a 288 Baker game during qualifying — 1,157-1,145 to reach the Final.

Clare qualified second then won its quarterfinal by one pin over Armada, 1,086-1,085, and beat third-seeded Caro, 1,131-1,110.

For the boys, Armada won its second Finals trophy and first since 2015 by getting out to a huge lead after the Baker games and holding its breath in the team game while Boyne City mounted a comeback.

In the end, Armada had enough in the tank for a 1,230-1,215 victory.

“It means a lot. It’s awesome to work with people for so long and have something like this happen,” said coach Jim Carl, who started the program in 2003. “It just shows that all of our hard work paid off.”

Armada struggled through qualifying, squeezing in as the eighth seed, then got into a 93-pin crater after the Baker games against top-seeded Cheboygan in the quarterfinals. The Tigers righted the ship just in time to post a 1,039 team game and get past Cheboygan, 1,355-1,304.

They beat Birch Run by 173 pins in the semifinals and darted out to an 82-pin lead on Boyne City after throwing six strikes in each Baker game to go up 394-312.

Boyne City was undaunted during the first portion of the team game, essentially tying things up around the sixth frame, but Dylan Malinowski threw six of seven strikes between the fourth and the 10th frames to create some breathing room.

“It feels really amazing. It’s my first year coming to states, so it’s a really exciting moment for me,” Malinowski said. “I just step up to the line, clear my mind and do my thing.”

Boyne City’s Mike Deming shot 219 in the team game, which the Ramblers won 903-836. The Ramblers, who made their first Finals appearance, qualified second then beat Grand Rapids Catholic Central, 1,207-1,187, and Sanford Meridian, 1,310-1,200.

Click for full girls results and boys results.