Howes, Kapanowski Lock Up 1st Titles
March 3, 2018
By Steve Gunn
Special for Second Half
MUSKEGON – After three years of varsity bowling, and zero trips to the MHSAA Finals, one might have expected Corunna's Javen Howes to just be happy to qualify this year.
But Howes did a whole lot better than that.
The senior bowler, who was the 10th and final qualifier at his Regional last week, caught fire Saturday and captured the Division 3 boys individual championship at Northway Lanes in Muskegon.
Howes defeated Portland's Jack Dalman in the tournament final, 429-317.
That score was a bit deceptive, because the match was close after the first game, which Howes won by only a 194-181 margin.
But he took command in the second game, beating Daman 235-136 to claim a comfortable victory.
"I just took my time and made sure my feet were slow and made sure I hit my mark," said Howes, an emotional bowler who's not afraid to show his excitement after throwing a strike.
Anyone watching Saturday's tournament would be amazed to learn Howes failed to qualify for the Finals in his three previous years of varsity competition.
While he admitted that was an annual disappointment, he also said it was extra motivation to make it on his last try, and do as well as he could.
"I'm glad I made it this year for the first time," Howes said. "I bowled really good today from the very start, I got lined up on my very first ball, so I knew it was going to be a good day."
Corunna coach Jason Scott noted that Howes had a lot of high scores throughout the tournament.
"He was very solid all day long," the coach said. "He had a 255 game, a 235 game and a 268 game in one of the rounds. He had multiple games with a lot of strikes.
"He was very confident. We tried to keep him calm and in a good mood all day long, and it worked. He was tough to beat."
The other seven boys bowlers who made the quarterfinals and won medals were Dalman, Justin Wolffis of Muskegon Orchard View, Devon Wert of Perry, Hunter Peterson of Ishpeming, Ryan Day of Gladwin, Isaac Solis of Adrian Madison and Kyle Nohel of Sanford Meridian.
Solis and Nohel were semifinalists.
Unlike Howes, Algonac's Shelby Kapanowski is a veteran of the Finals. This was her third trip in four years, but she never did particularly well before Saturday – finishing 44th as a sophomore and 23rd as a junior.
But Kapanowski's fortunes flipped dramatically at this year's tournament. She defeated Birch Run's Tessa Birchmeier 372-320 in the final to capture the championship.
Unlike the boys final, this outcome was never really in doubt. Kapanowski took command with a 194-167 win in the first game, then sealed up the title with a 178-153 victory in the second.
"I was nervous in the first round of match play, but as the day went on I found my shot and the lanes never broke down on me, so I was able to handle it very well," said Kapanowski, a senior.
Algonac coach Chris Viney may have been more excited than Kapanowski about her championship.
"Earlier in the season, in back-to-back tournaments, she lost her match play by one pin," Viney said. "It was rough, but we kept saying that it's OK, it was good experience. We told her that bad things are happening right now, but good things will happen later, and they did.
"Every year she got closer. This year we got her in more tournaments and got her more experience. She constantly got better and better and better. She's a winner. She has tenacity. She works hard."
The other seven girls medalists were Birchmeier, Kendyl Hofmeister of Essexville Garber, Madilynn Kieling of Livonia Clarenceville, Ashley Hoskins of Leslie, Lynsey Blonshine of Stanton Central Montcalm, Kayla Kern of Wyoming and Megan Wilkins of Ishpeming.
Kern and Wilkins were semifinalists.
Click for full boys results and girls results.
D2 Singles Champs Stand a Cut Above
March 4, 2017
By Tim Robinson
Special for Second Half
CANTON — Three years ago, Angela Meadows was a freshman, determined to prove she belonged on a high school bowling team.
“The story is, her coach cut her,” Taylor Kennedy coach Dan Dutcher said. “Silly coach, right? That was me.”
“We joke about it now,” Meadows said. “No more hard feelings.”
Saturday, she made her point abundantly, and gloriously, clear.
Meadows won the Division 2 girls individual championship at Super Bowl in Canton, defeating Michaellia Merlo of Pontiac Notre Dame Prep 421-280 in the championship match.
Meadows said she never thought about when she clinched the match until the end, because her mind was elsewhere.
“I wasn’t thinking about it at all,” she said. “(Merlo) was so nice, and I was just having fun.”
It was a marked change of perspective for Meadows, who admits to a streak of pessimism.
“I was not pleased at all with my season,” she said. “As an individual, I did really bad until the state championship.
“I kept a positive attitude (Saturday),” she said, “and somehow proved myself wrong.”
After making the final round as the No. 9 seed, Meadows won her first match over No. 8 seed Madison Burdick of Charlotte and got a surge of confidence.
“I couldn’t believe I beat the first girl,” she said. “She was so good. After the first round, I realized I was going to win this thing.”
Meadows squeaked past Imari Blond of Flint Kearsley, 407-403, in the Quarterfinals, then slipped past Kaylee Collier of Jackson, 347-329, to reach the Final.
After she had been cut from the team as a freshman, “I was devastated,” Meadows said. “I was motivated and wanted to prove him wrong.”
Dutcher couldn’t have been happier.
“It was a perfect day,” he said. “A peak day and a perfect day for her. I wouldn’t say it was expected, but she expected that she would advance far. She had a very consistent day overall. Not too high or too low.”
That wasn’t the case afterward.
“I thought I was dreaming,” she said, laughing, about the award ceremony. ‘I still don’t think it’s real.”
In the boys competition, David Norhouse of Byron Center defeated reigning champion Austin Robison of Sturgis 458-413 in the Final. Robison won the first game 254-226, then slumped in the second game, which Norhouse won 232-149.
“Austin ended with seven or eight strikes in a row,” Byron Center coach Walt Dyer said of the first game. “David had five in a row to stay close, and got a good string going to pull away in the second game. It was very exciting.”
It was a rematch from last year, when Robison beat Norhouse in the first round en route to winning the Division 2 title.
“It came down to the ninth frame, and it was a great match,” Dyer said. “David had talked about it earlier, and said, ‘I can’t let him beat me again this year.’ And it came to fruition.”
Norhouse was the No. 3 seed Saturday. He got past Tecumseh’s Tavon Hastings in the first round, 403-392, then breezed past Nick Dimitri of South Lyon and Liam Robinson of Marquette in the Semifinals.
It was Norhouse’s fourth trip to the Singles Finals and his third trip into match play. Two years ago, as a sophomore, he finished the qualifying block first overall, only to lose to the No. 16 seed.
Robison, the No. 4 seed, got past Jacob Harvey of Adrian by 20 pins in the first round, beat Wyatt Mains of Three Rivers by 35 in the Quarterfinals and rallied to beat South Lyon’s Ryan Zaharia in the Semifinals.
Click for full girls results and full boys results.
PHOTO: Taylor Kennedy’s Angela Meadows (middle) stands with coaches Dan Dutcher and Dorene Bird.