Performance: Ford's Kensington Holland
January 27, 2020
Kensington Holland
Utica Ford senior - Bowling
The Ford senior and four-year varsity standout earned her top achievement of many this winter, winning the Macomb County Singles Tournament championship Jan. 19 to earn the MHSAA “Performance of the Week.” for the week of Jan. 13. Holland won the final by 10 pins over reigning Division 1 runner-up Dani Decruydt of St. Clair Shores Lake Shore.
Holland made the MHSAA Singles Finals as a freshman in 2017 and narrowly missed returning as a sophomore, falling just 26 pins shy with a 13th-place Regional finish. A pair of rough games doomed last season’s Regional effort, but Holland has raised her game for her final high school season. She rolled five games (out of nine) of 200 or higher at the County tournament, including a 212 in the semifinal and 205 in the championship match. Holland’s overall average this season prior to this past weekend was 188.5, with a high game of 279 and high series of 657. She’s finished among the top 10 at five tournaments total this winter, including also as runner-up at the Utica Singles event.
Holland began bowling at age 3, following her parents into the sport. Her father James Holland coaches Ford’s girls varsity under Roger Beaty, who oversees the school’s entire bowling program. Holland also has played softball most of middle and high school – not coincidentally, using her powerful right arm as a pitcher – and she may play softball again this upcoming season after taking off last spring to focus on honing her bowling skills. Holland carries a 3.26 GPA and would like to study marketing and business at the college level, where she also hopes to continue her bowling career.
Coach Roger Beaty said: “This weekend proved to Kensington, and her local area, that she is a force to be reckoned with. She has always been buzzing near the top tier of girls bowlers, but this year she is seeing the results from her years of hard work. She is a grinder and always has a game face on. This win is exactly what she needed to catapult her into Regionals preparations. Her goal this year was to qualify for States. She will keep working to be ready. I feel she can be a top bowler in the state. She does not let her emotions get to her during competition, and she has a solid technical game.”
Performance point: “Just rolling the last shot and realizing I'd won, and being able to look up at that scoreboard and see that I won the game,” Holland recalled as her best memory from the County win. “Because I didn't think that I was going to. She started off doing better than me, and I wasn't too sure. I just tried to make sure that I was doing the best that I could until the game was over. Anything could've happened, which it did.”
Bowling boost: “I have to make sure to do my best and try my best because since I won this, I know I can do a lot more. It let me know I'm capable of winning a lot more tournaments ... because this was a really important one. … I've been bowling for a long time now. It comes natural to me, so I know what I can do. I know I'm capable of winning things when I really set my mind to it.”
Dad taught me: “To take my time. He taught me a whole bunch of techniques. And to try my hardest (because) I can do anything. … Sometimes I would just go to (my parents’) leagues and just watch them and see how much fun they had. … It’s just a fun sport for me. I just love to do it. I love being in bowling alleys. It’s a fun environment.”
Firing fastballs: “(As a pitcher) I’m able to throw the ball a little faster because I’m used to carrying a 15-pound bowling ball. (Bowling) helps with the swing of my arm; I swing the ball back when I bowl.”
Postseason plan: “To make it past Regionals and hopefully do good in states. I just know I need to try to score my highest, change my techniques if I have to for the different oil patterns.”
– Geoff Kimmerly, Second Half editor
Past honorees
Jan. 17: Claycee West, White Pigeon basketball - Report
Jan. 10: Seth Lause, Livonia Stevenson hockey - Report
Dec. 5: Mareyohn Hrabowski, River Rouge football - Report
Nov. 28: Kathryn Ackerman, Grand Haven swimming - Report
Nov. 21: Emily Van Dyke, Southfield Christian volleyball - Report
Nov. 14: Taylor Wegener, Ida volleyball - Report
Nov. 7: Carter Solomon, Plymouth cross country - Report
Oct. 31: Jameson Goorman, Muskegon Western Michigan Christian soccer - Report
Oct. 24: Austin Plotkin, Brimley cross country - Report
Oct. 17: Jack Spamer, Brighton cross country - Report
Oct. 10: Kaylee Maat, Hudsonville volleyball - Report
Oct. 3: Emily Paupore, Negaunee cross country - Report
Sept. 26: Josh Mason, South Lyon soccer - Report
Sept. 19: Ariel Chang, Utica Eisenhower golf - Report
Sept. 12: Jordyn Shipps, DeWitt swimming - Report
PHOTOS: (Top) Utica Ford's Kensington Holland begins her approach during the Macomb County Tournament bowled the weekend of Jan. 17. (Middle) Holland poses with her award after winning the championship. (Photos courtesy of the Macomb Daily.)
D3 Champs Earn Teams' 1st Singles Titles
By
Jeff Bleiler
Special for MHSAA.com
March 7, 2020
JACKSON — Make no mistake: Logan Teubert's cool demeanor masks a competitive fire that rages within.
Consider that when he got ahold of the bracket for the Division 3 Singles Bowling Finals at JAX 60, he had his mom fill out his name all the way to the championship.
It proved prophetic as the Jonesville junior rolled out to a 48-pin advantage in the first game of the Final and withstood a midgame rally by Capac junior Kaden Braun in the second game to win 369-349.
Teubert was the first Jonesville boy to win an individual title and the first Comet to claim one since 2011 when Lynsey Molinaro, who remains on the coaching staff, won.
“It’s awesome. I’ve been waiting for this, I finally got to do it and I did it,” Teubert said. “Today I had a rough couple games, got back in the cut and just started throwing strikes.”
Teubert shot 204 in the first game of the Final, his only open frame a missed 10-pin in the fifth after three straight strikes. He clawed his way to a 165 in the second game that included back-to-back splits in the eighth and ninth frames.
Braun struggled to find traction and had three open frames for a 156 in the first game, but pounded a four-bagger in the third through sixth frames of the second game to get Teubert’s attention. A split in the ninth thwarted the comeback, and Braun finished with 193.
Teubert appeared undaunted throughout the Finals, calmly adjusting his glasses in between shots.
“Don’t let his outward appearance fool you; he’s pretty confident,” Jonesville coach Matt Molinaro said. “He stayed focus, he stayed hungry, but he tried to let it slip away because he bowled not to lose instead of bowling to win. So then we got him regrouped, refocused and then he shut the door.”
He had a decided advantage in support, as his backers turned JAX 60 into a 60-lane version of his 12-lane home house of L&J Lanes. It also helped that Teubert has bowled at JAX 60 frequently in tournaments and for matches in the Cascades Conference.
“(The fan support was) awesome. It helps so much,” Teubert said. “The lanes were different today than any other day, but it didn’t affect my performance that much.”
Teubert qualified 10th after the six-game qualifying round with 1,201, a score boosted by games of 242 and 255. He beat Boyne City senior Jack Wicker 391-343, then dispatched Cheboygan senior Dawson Campbell 403-393 thanks to a double in the 10th of the second game for 234. In the semifinals, he turned away Hudsonville Unity Christian senior Kurtis Montsma 370-358.
Teubert praised the Jonesville coaching staff afterward.
“They’re awesome. I couldn’t get any better coaches,” he said. “They’ve made me who I am today.”
The admiration is mutual.
“He’s a phenomenal bowler and he’s worked very hard on his game, so I’m not too surprised that (he won),” Jonesville assistant coach Matt Davis said. “He’s been calling himself a state champion since the beginning of the year.”
Will he be calling himself a two-time champion after next season?
“I guess we’ll find out,” Teubert said.
On the girls side, Big Rapids senior Hope Thebo surprised herself and her coach with a Finals victory in defeating Caro senior Baylee Hutchinson 406-378.
Big Rapids coach David Nawrot said Thebo averaged about 160 in Central State Athletics Association play.
“During Regionals, she was just steadfast. Top game was 167, bottom game was 157,” Nawrot said of Thebo, who qualified for the Girls Golf Finals all four years of her high school career. “I think her golf background helps. Being in that tournament definitely helps with this.”
Thebo rolled eight strikes in the first game of the Final, including seven of the last eight shots, for a 223 opener to Hutchinson’s 155. Hutchinson answered with her own 223 that included a five-bagger, while Thebo battled some timing issues that she said were the result of the positive start in the first game.
“Coming in, I was just trying to qualify and do the best I could from there,” said Thebo, who finished with a 183 game. “After I slowed myself down, I was good.”
Thebo played basketball as a freshman, finished 42nd in the Regional two years ago and was 12th last season before claiming Big Rapids’ first individual Finals trophy.
Thebo qualified eighth with a six-game score of 1,142. Over her four matches, she cleared 200 in five of the eight games. She beat Flat Rock senior Jasmine Carroll in the opener 372-348, then defeated top seed Karissa Manifold of Hillsdale 437-401 before coming back to top Livonia Clarenceville senior Madilynn Kieling 350-328.
Click for full girls results and boys results.