High 5s - 2/7/12
February 6, 2012
Have a suggestion for a future High 5? Please offer your suggestions by e-mail to [email protected]. Candidates often will have accomplished great things on the field of play -- but also will be recognized for other less obvious contributions to their teams, schools or the mission of high school athletics as a whole. We also will honor one team each week.
Marissa Campbell
Brighton senior
Bowling
Campbell has posted some of the state’s top scores this season according to the Michigan High School Interscholastic Bowling Coaches Association. Her high game of 268 is tied for ninth this season, and her high series of 470 is tied for 20th. She’s averaging 197 pins per game and rolled a two-game 429 last week.
“I think so far I’ve done good. I’ve definitely had some off days, but lately I’m bowling well."
Up next: Campbell has signed to bowl next season with Alabama A&M. She plans to major in biology and minor in psychology. “I’m not really sure what I’ll do yet. But I really like forensics, like CSI. I could be a lab technician.”
My goal this season: "I want to average 200, at least. My high game this year is 268, and I want to (bowl) last year’s, 279. My dream goal is winning states."
My career highlight: "Number one on my list is when I got my high game of 279 when I was a junior. Another was when I made states sophomore year, which was really big because I was only a sophomore. Last year, I missed the state cut by 10 pins.”
I learned the most about bowling from: "My high school coach, Coach (Shawn) Kind, has taught me the most about bowling, as he was my first teacher. Coach Kind is an awesome coach and never yells at his players, but expects a lot out of us because he knows what we are capable of. In the process of teaching me the technical aspects of the game, I grew a passion for bowling. I can’t imagine my life without it.”
I look up to: “My coaches. My high school coach, Coach Kind, and my person coach Lou Marquez. I look up to them because I trust they only want the best for me, and they believe in me. They know my potential, and always push me to be a better bowler.”
Tim Lambert
Grand Rapids Forest Hills Eastern senior
Wrestling
Lambert recently won the 200th match of his career, and now stands at 46-0 this season and 224-5 for his career. He won 61 as a junior and 62 as a sophomore, and sits atop the MHSAA record book with 124 three-point near falls totaled last season. He is seeking to win his first MHSAA championship. He finished Division 2 runner-up at 112 pounds as a sophomore. He’s wrestling at 125 this winter.
Up next: Lambert has signed to wrestle at Nebraska. He is undecided on what he will study. “I have a wide variety of interests though such as business, marketing, fisheries and wildlife, and sports recreation, etc. (I want to be) a good husband and father, and a successful man in whatever I choose to pursue.”
I learned the most about wrestling from: "I’d say learning a lot from my brother and father has influenced my skills. Training at the Olympic Training Center made a huge impact to my wrestling. I have had many coaches throughout my career and outside of high school that have made a big impact in my wrestling success. Craig Shutich and Ernie Gillem are personal coaches that have made major impacts in my success.
I love most about wrestling: “The challenge and the grind. I love being able to train all year mentally and physically to then step out on the mat and be able to see who the best wrestler is without any other variables.”
My pre-match routine is: "I like warming up early and getting a really good sweat or workout in. That way, I am not going into the match with muscles that are tight and not warmed up. And before finals matches I retie my shoes to make them tight, and it kind of refocuses me."
I look up to: "My whole family gives me inspiration and has supported me, and I look up to them. Also, great wrestlers like Jordan Burroughs give me inspiration."
Other sports: "Right now, I don't play any other sports, and I participate in wrestling for most of the year – although I enjoy playing all other sports like basketball, football, and my personal favorite, ultimate Frisbee."
Grand Ledge Gymnastics
The Comets pushed their four-year-plus winning streak to 69 straight meets and became favorites again to win the MHSAA team championship next month by claiming the Canton Invitational title with a score of 146.8, less than a tenth of a point better than runner-up Canton. The meet featured nine teams from last season's MHSAA Team Final, including the top five placers.
"We were behind after two events, and we're not used to that," Grand Ledge coach Duane Haring said. "When (we) came back to beam, the last event again, they went five for five. There aren't that many teams that can do that. We're one that can, thank goodness."
Grand Ledge's highlight easily was a 10.0 score by senior Christine Wilson on bars. Haring has been told its the first 10.0 in Michigan high school history, although he's continuing to investigate to find out if that is so. Wilson finished second all-around in Division 1, and teammate Lauren Clark won the Division 2 all-around competition.
"They just showed me so much drive and determination Saturday," Haring said. "It was incredible."
Team of the Month: Taylor Trillium Academy Girls Bowling
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
February 16, 2023
Coach Joseph Slaven started Taylor Trillium Academy’s bowling program seven years ago in part because his children hoped to represent their school on the lanes, plus he’s a bowler, and as a longtime coach in various sports he is glad to pass on what he knows. It’s become an opportunity for them and their classmates to compete, but also to learn a lifelong sport and add to their already well-rounded résumés as they prepare for life after high school.
It’s become quite a history-making endeavor as well – and his Wildcats girls team is in the midst of a multi-season surge that may be just the start.
Taylor Trillium’s girls bowling team – the MHSAA/Applebee’s “Team of the Month” for January – finished an undefeated run through the Independent Bowling League on Wednesday, and will enter its Feb. 24 Team Regional seeking to make the Division 4 Finals for the second-straight season after the Wildcats made their championship debut as a full team a year ago.
Trillium will enter postseason competition having also prepped against several much larger opponents, with January also highlighted by a championship at Trenton’s 16th Annual Bowl for Burns tournament on Jan. 28. The Wildcats defeated Division 1 Taylor in the final of that all-Baker event, and Trillium this season also has finished second at the Detroit Mercy Tournament, fourth at the Livonia Clarenceville Tournament and fifth at the Dearborn Divine Child Tournament – all won by Division 1 teams.
“Everybody is improving just by leaps and bounds. In one year, it’s just amazing to see how they’ve grown as people … it’s a lot of fun, and we’re really enjoying it,” Slaven said. “The biggest key is they are very coachable. To be able to teach them and explain at the same time, the combination of those two is very welcoming as a coach – and that’s what I’m working with.”
Bowling got its start at the school in 2016-17 when Slaven’s son Connor was a sophomore. Students had shown interest in the past, and Joseph Slaven gave it life by taking on building the program – which began with six girls and two boys at the first tryout. As a junior a year later, Connor became the school’s first athlete in any sport to reach the MHSAA Finals, in Division 4 singles, and he qualified for singles competition again as a senior – this time as he and his dad were joined by the rest of the Wildcats as boys bowling became the first team in school history to qualify for a Finals as well. Additionally that season, Kalyn Browne became the school’s first female athlete to reach a Finals in any sport.
Joseph Slaven switched to coaching the girls team in 2020-21 with his daughter Abbey a freshman (trading places with current boys coach Jason Caperton). She reached the Division 4 Singles Final as a freshman and again last season, advancing to the match play as a sophomore. She also was joined in last year’s singles championship competition by then-senior teammate Haylee Irvin-Byford – and by all of the Wildcats the day before as they reached the Team Final for the first time.
That momentum has continued rolling this winter.
Joseph Slaven has 11 bowlers total on the girls team this season, and most are multi-sport athletes also competing in volleyball, golf, cross country and softball. Together, they all carry grade-point averages of 3.0 or higher, with the team average pushing toward 3.7, on top of National Honor Society activities and service hours that go along with it.
“They make it fun, and everyone is really inviting – the girls are rooting for each other, watching each other grow,” Slaven said. “But at the same time, it’s competitive.”
Slaven tells them to “practice how you play,” and he makes all of it count. He tracks every game including from practices in his bowlers’ averages, and on match days the current top five for the season make the starting lineup.
Those five heading into Wednesday were Abbey Slaven (176 average), Emily Yagley (157), Sara Brunell (143), Alivia Schmer (132) and Arianna Lask (131), followed by Mackenzie Peplinski and Sara Boiler as the lineup that will go on to next weekend’s Regional.
“For a lot of them, I can see (Abbey’s) set the bar for them. But she’s also straddling the bar, reaching back down to tell them, ‘You can do this too,’” Joseph Slaven said. “It’s almost like having an extra coach sometimes. It’s not like the coach, but having a buddy telling you (ways to improve). … She’s competitive, but super supportive of her teammates.”
Samantha Keilman, Noelia Guerrido, Cheyanne Miller, and Dria Keilman round out the squad, and all 11 have enjoyed highlight moments this season including three-game series where all three were above their single-game averages. Those top seven all have put together high series above 500, led heading into Wednesday by Slaven’s best of 733, Yagley’s of 652 and Brunell’s of 604.
They’ll take to the lanes next for the Feb. 24-25 Division 4 Regional at Ten Pin Bowling Alley in Tecumseh. Once again, the top three teams from Friday and top 10 singles from Saturday will advance to the Division 4 Finals, this season March 3-4 at M-66 Bowl in Battle Creek.
Past Teams of the Month, 2022-23
December: Byron Center hockey - Report
November: Martin football - Report
October: Gladwin volleyball - Report
September: Negaunee girls tennis - Report
(PHOTO courtesy of the Taylor Trillium Academy girls bowling program.)