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.
D4 Winners Find Right Shots at Right Times
By
Tim Robinson
Special for MHSAA.com
March 7, 2020
LANSING — All athletes make adjustments during their events, but few work out as well as the one Hanover-Horton's Kassidy Alexander made during the Division 4 girls bowling singles championship match Saturday at Royal Scot.
Alexander, a junior, was dueling with Bronson's Dakota Smith, winning by four pins in the first game. In the second game, she didn't like the way her ball was responding.
"It wasn't coming into the pocket correctly," she said. "I was leaving 10-pins everywhere."
So she consulted with her father, Arron, who also is her coach. He suggested she move one board to her right on her approach.
The move, less than an inch, paid off.
"He spotted it," Kassidy sad. "I was thinking about moving over, but I didn't want to change anything that serious."
Alexander won the second game by three pins, but needed, and got, two strikes in the 10th frame to pull out the 371-364 win.
It was the second trip to the finals for Smith, who lost in the 2019 championship match to Mackenzie Johnson of Vandercook Lake.
Alexander and Smith were familiar with each other from competition in summer leagues and again at last week's Division 4 Regional.
"Kassie respects her for how good a bowler she is and how passionate she is for the game," Arron Alexander said. "She appreciated ending the day by bowling against Dakota."
Kassidy's title was the second individual championship for the Comets, following Emma Davis' in 2015.
It's also the second MHSAA bowling title for the Alexander family. Older brother Justin was on the Hanover-Horton squad that won the Division 4 team title in 2015.
Justin wasn't able to see his sister bowl Saturday due to work obligations, but was a key supporter down the stretch.
"Through our Cascades (Conference) meet and at the Regional, he was there for her, helping her focus on her game," Arron Alexander said. "It was such a neat moment to watch them interact, being five years apart (in age). It makes for a proud dad."
Hunter Haldaman of Traverse City Christian, who won the boys title, took a different route to his championship.
He won his opening match against Unionville-Sebewaing's Ethan Androl by 49 pins. Androl won the second game, but not by enough to make a dent in a match Haldaman claimed 404-373.
"I had a strike in the first frame and had a good line going," Haldaman said. "I was confident in that shot, and it worked out from there."
In the second game, "our goal was to fill frames," coach Brent Wheat said. "We wanted to make our spares and try and match him the best we could."
Androl won the second game by 18 pins, but Haldaman had a strike in the ninth frame to put the match out of reach.
"It was a good feeling," Wheat said with a chuckle of relief. "I figured one good ball in the 10th, and we had it. But when he had a strike in the ninth, we put the pressure on (Androl) to make the shot in the end."
Haldaman, who won the Sabres' first individual bowling title, got into the sport through his grandparents, who took him and his brother bowling on a weekly basis while they were young.
"I played soccer in elementary school," he said. "I didn't have a passion for it, but I have a passion for bowling."
Like Alexander, Haldaman worked on his game between his sophomore and junior years, learning the mental aspect of the game as well as fundamentals like reading lane conditions.
Although he was leading overall throughout the second game, Haldaman didn't think he had the title sewn up until the 10th frame.
"You notice the lead, but that could change at any point in time," he said. "I was just taking it shot by shot, frame by frame. That's the way to do it."
And, for both, that resulted in a Division 4 Finals title and motivation for next year, when they're both seniors.
"I would love to come back as a senior," Haldaman said.
Click for full girls results and boys results.