D3 Champs Rise from Past Tourney Troubles

By Steve Vedder
Special for MHSAA.com

March 1, 2019

MUSKEGON – Emily Feldten clearly remembered the conversation she had with her coach as the Division 3 girls team bowling championships came down to the final three shots. 

The Coloma junior had assured coach Carley Burrell she could be counted on to handle the team's anchor position in Friday's Final against second-seeded Birch Run at Northway Lanes. 

"I was up for it," Feldten said.

And she showed it in dramatic fashion, as Coloma edged Birch Run 1,112-1,104. Down 14 pins after the match’s two Baker games, Coloma, helped by two strikes in Feldten's final three shots, finished off a furious rally to win its first MHSAA title since 2010.

Burrell said she quietly pulled Feldten aside before deciding on her Finals lineup to make sure the junior – who has been part of teams ranked No. 1 at the end of the regular season the last three years – was mentally up for the challenge. 

It proved to be a monumental decision.

"She knew what we needed," Burrell said. "I talked to her about (the anchor spot), and pressure can be scary. I wanted to know if she could handle it. I knew she was a pressure bowler."

Feldten said the scenario played out so quickly, she didn't have time to think too much about her final chance.

"It's an awesome feeling to get the result the team wanted," she said. "We all worked so hard for this. It's unbelievable for us right now, shocking."

The championship capped a three-year run by virtually the same core of bowlers who have torn up the regular season but failed to get out of the qualifying block of the Division 3 tournament the last two years. Burrell said her bowlers fully recognized this was their last chance.

"They knew this was it, that there weren't going to be any second chances," she said. "This was going to have to be the year it would happen. It came down to a matter of handling obstacles one at a time.

"We knew what the end goal was, and they accomplished it phenomenally. "

Gladwin won the boys title with a 1,229-1,152 win over Ogemaw Heights in a matchup of the tournament's top two seeds after qualifying.

Like Coloma's girls, Gladwin used past stumbles in the tournament as motivation this season. The team featured three seniors and two juniors in the lineup, many who returned from a 2018 Finals where Gladwin failed to make the first cut.

"This is definitely something we sought all year," Gladwin coach Kent Crawford said. "We've been undefeated in our conference (Jake Pine) for the last three years, and winning a state championship is always something we've strived for. 

"We've had teams tell us all year we could go far in the tournament, and we've seen that."

Two of the team's four-year seniors, Ryan Day and Cody Roehrs, said two things helped the team finish the run Friday. One was overcoming the frustration of last year's event, and the second was not letting a brutal Michigan winter interfere with their regimen.

"We used (last year) to fuel us and make us do the best we could and win it for the three seniors," Roehrs said. "This is amazing, a crazy dream. We just got together as a team and said winning this is the biggest thing. We're like a family out there."

The team missed as many as 10 practices and a couple of weekend tournaments because of the inclement weather. Such an all-over-the-road schedule could have wrecked the momentum of many teams, but it didn't faze Gladwin, Day said.

"It was tough not practicing sometimes, but we're so passionate about bowling that snow days wouldn't affect us," he said. "Everything we did was to work toward this."

Crawford said it can be argued the lack of practice actually did the team some good.

"We'd have two weeks off from matches at times, but that's true of all teams," he said. "I do think it made us aware of practicing, and that we had to be serious about it."

Click for full girls results and full boys results.

Pennfield, Kearsley Enjoy Repeat Success

March 2, 2018

By Tim Robinson
Special for Second Half

CANTON – It was like old times for Battle Creek Pennfield’s boys bowling team at Friday’s Division 2 Team Finals at Super Bowl.

Winning the title was nothing new; the Panthers did it last year in Division 3. That made Pennfield the first school to win back-to-back bowling championships in different divisions.

The Panthers’ opponent in the Final was familiar, too. Pennfield and Coldwater are both members of the Interstate 8 Athletic Conference.

This season included, however, the first wins over the Cardinals in coach Rick Hinds’ career at Pennfield, and the Panthers took three of four matches – two during the regular season and the third  Friday.

“It was tight all season,” Hinds said. “One of our wins was by one pin. We see them a lot.”

But it was a little nerve-wracking for the Panthers after a strong start.

Pennfield won the first Baker game 223-137, by an 86-pin difference, and as it turned out the Panthers needed all of them.

Coldwater made a furious comeback, winning the next Baker game by 25 pins and taking the regular games by 54.

But Pennfield’s strong start held, and the Panthers won by seven pins, 1,264-1,257.

That came in part due to a strong performance by freshman Carson Dyer, who was put in the lineup and finished with strikes in each of his final four frames.

“I plugged him in, and he finished,” Hinds said.

Senior Nick Hohnberger played a key role, having only one open frame during qualifying, while senior Sean Young and junior James Ruoss carried the team during a semifinal win over top seed Tecumseh.

“The competition was stiffer in Division 2,” Hinds said. “Nothing against Division 3, but the schools are bigger and a lot more competitive. I was told we were the smallest Division 2 school to win it. That’s a really good thing.”

On the girls side, the Division 2 trophy will find plenty of company at Flint Kearsley.

The top-seeded Hornets won their fifth consecutive Division 2 title and sixth in the last seven years by beating Tecumseh 1,186-990 in the title match.

Kearsley led by just 10 pins after the Baker games, then won by nearly 200 pins in individual play.

“What happened was I have girls who have experience and knew what to do when we got to the Finals,” Kearsley coach Rob Ploof said. “We filled a lot of frames in the first individual game.”

With the outcome determined, Ploof asked for volunteers among his starters to sit so senior Mary Wheeler and freshman Allison Robbins could get a chance to bowl in the Final.

Without hesitation, junior Alexis Roof and sophomore Imari Blond volunteered.

“They wanted to let our seniors finish,” Ploof said. “I preach all season long it’s about the team. I quote Bo (Schembechler, the late University of Michigan football coach) all the time. It’s the team, the team, the team. No one cares how you scored, as long as you win.”

Kearsley held off Sturgis in the quarterfinals.

“They gave us a run for our money,” Ploof said, “but Emma Boychuk, a senior, struck out in the 10th and won us the match. I give her a lot of credit.”

In the semifinals against Carleton Airport, senior Karlee Griffin led the way, with senior Barbara Hawes making a solid contribution as well.

The Hornets then knocked off Tecumseh, a team that gave Kearsley fits at the beginning of Ploof’s tenure. The first year his team bested the Indians was 2012, the first year Kearsley won the Division 2 title.

Ploof said his program has a strong feeder system at the elementary and middle school levels.

“When they get to the varsity level, they’re ready,” he said.

And for the fifth year in a row, the Hornets finished with a win.

“It never gets old,” Ploof said. “Never.”

Click for full boys results and girls results.