Performance: Caledonia's Brittney Schnicke
March 4, 2016
Brittney Schnicke
Caledonia junior – Bowling
Schnicke placed among the elite of her league and the state’s best high school bowlers as well during her first two years rolling for the Fighting Scots. But this winter she has been even better, upping her average and winning her Division 1 Regional in singles Saturday with a six-game score of 1,241 – less than a year after losing parts of two fingers from her bowling hand in carpentry accident – to earn the Michigan National Guard “Performance of the Week.”
Schnicke was fresh off making the MHSAA Finals match play last March when, while building a clock in an industrial arts class at school, she cut off nearly the entire top joint of her left ring finger and the tip of her left middle finger. She bowls left-handed, and feared her career was over. But using a ball drilled to fit the changes on her hand, Schnicke built her skills back up – and this season is averaging 203 pins per game, up from 193 as a sophomore and 187 as a freshmen. Her averages this season and as a freshman were tops in the Ottawa-Kent Conference White, and her average last year was second in the league. Schnicke also has anchored her teams all three seasons, and last year helped Caledonia advance to the Division 1 Team Finals match play quarterfinals – she was named to the Division 1 all-state third team when the season was done. Caledonia is 44-0 in regular-season matches during her career, with three league titles.
Schnicke will bowl in the Division 1 Singles Final on Saturday at Sterling Lanes in Sterling Heights. She also used to play softball, but now spends her time away from the pins in a much quieter space than the bowling center, hunting and fishing with an eye on a career in conservation.
Coach Eric Bottrall said: “Brittney is a very competitive bowler that loves to bowl. Brittney practices relentlessly. She is a little emotional when she bowls, but that shows how bad she wants it. She is hard on herself, but expects to do well every time she bowls. Brittney has come up big when the team has needed her over the past three years. Being anchor has a lot of pressure involved, and Brittney thrives on it. We have won several tournaments, and Brittney never backs down when we need a big shot at the end of the game. She wants the last shot, and I believe in her. Brittney is a great listener and leader. I’m blessed to coach her, and she’s an inspiration to me. With all that Brittney went through last summer with her accident, to come back better than last season … that just shows the heart and dedication she has to be a better bowler.”
Performance Point: “I enjoyed being with my team the most. When we bowled singles, I was right next to the rest of my team the whole time and my coach was there the whole time to help me out. It relaxes me; it lets me know that I have support so I don’t have to do it alone. During the first couple of games, I was doing really good, and I thought if I just kept doing it and picking up my spares, I would probably place pretty good."
Comeback trail: “When I first cut (my fingertips) off, the first thing I said to my teacher was that I wouldn’t be able to bowl; my season was done. A couple months later when it healed up pretty well, the first time I bowled, it was pretty scary. I thought I would do badly the whole season, but my coach, he supported me through the whole thing and helped me out. It was a hard time. (But) I went into a tournament one weekend, and I did pretty well, and I thought if I could just keep doing that …”
Telling the tale: “I tell them what happened. They just asked how I can bowl with it. They’re pretty surprised. It still surprises me, but I’m getting there where it’s not as bad. The hardest part was getting used to the new way that my ball was drilled, and the easiest part was probably coming back with support from my teammates and my family.”
The natural: “I started (bowling) when I was 12 or 13. My dad (Chuck), he bowls a lot (and) he helps me a lot. He signed me up for a Saturday league, and after the league he would help me practice. I got a lot of support from the coaches in that league, they helped a lot, and it became easy for me. At first I thought I was really bad, but it actually came really easy for me. It was pretty natural for me, I guess.”
The great outdoors: “I like how relaxing it is, and quiet, and I like doing stuff with my dad especially. I want to be a DNR (Department of Natural Resources) officer. I’ve heard about them my whole life, and I always wanted to do that kind of stuff. And I hate hearing about poachers; I just want to catch them.”
– Geoff Kimmerly, Second Half editor
Every week during the 2015-16 school year, Second Half and the Michigan National Guard will recognize a “Performance of the Week" from among the MHSAA's 750 member high schools.
The Michigan Army National Guard provides trained and ready forces in support of the National Military Strategy, and responds as needed to state, local, and regional emergencies to ensure peace, order, and public safety. The Guard adds value to our communities through continuous interaction. National Guard soldiers are part of the local community. Guardsmen typically train one weekend per month and two weeks in the summer. This training maintains readiness when needed, be it either to defend our Nation's freedom, or protecting lives and property of Michigan citizens during a local natural disaster.
Previous 2015-16 honorees
Feb. 24: Kamari Newman, Detroit East English boys basketball - Read
Feb. 17: Jason Whitens, Powers North Central boys basketball - Read
Feb. 10: Rachel Hogan, Grand Ledge gymnastics - Read
Feb. 3: Nehemiah Mork, Midland Dow swimming & diving - Read
Jan. 27: Mardrekia Cook, Muskegon girls basketball - Read
Jan. 20: Sage Castillo, Hartland wrestling - Read
Jan. 13: Rob Zofchak, Dexter swimming & diving - Read
Jan. 6: Tyler Deming, Caro wrestling – Read
Dec. 15: Jordan Weber, East Jordan boys basketball – Read
Dec. 8: Kaitlyn Geers, Kent City girls basketball – Read
PHOTOS: (Top) Caledonia's Brittney Schnicke lines up a shot during practice Thursday. (Middle) Schnicke, a Regional singles champion last weekend, prepares for Saturday's MHSAA Final. (Photos by Eric Bottrall.)
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.)