Regional Miss Leads TC Christian to End on Historic Finals Roll
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
April 16, 2021
As fall sports playoffs commenced, Traverse City Christian was seeking its first ever MHSAA Finals championship in a girls sport.
Then the Sabres’ volleyball team reached the Regional Finals, and thoughts of a state title were on the school’s collective mind.
That’s good.
But those hopes ended at the hands of Leland.
If you’re one of the Sabres, that’s bad.
Yes, but winter sports were on the horizon and girls and boys Regional bowling titles had been numerous in years past. And the girls team graduated only one member of the 2020 team that reached the Division 4 semifinals and fell 10 pins shy of the championship match.
That’s good.
Suddenly winter sports hit the pause button.
That was bad, and frankly sad for many student-athletes.
In February, the pause button was released and the Sabres bowling teams were ready again to pursue Division 4 titles.
Fast forward a bit and the girls managed to let the Regional title slip out of their hands, 52 pins short of champion Ishpeming Westwood. They lost a 90-pin lead in the final game.
Oh, supporters and the girls would agree that’s bad.
Not really, as the Sabres’ runner-up finish qualified them for the Finals.
That’s good, right?
Indeed! They topped Ishpeming in a semifinals rematch on their way to claiming the first girls sport Finals championship in the school’s history.
“We thought we were going to win one (Regional) this year,” said Brent Wheat, one of the Sabres’ three girls and boys bowling coaches and the school’s baseball coach. “We were in the lead (at the girls Regional) and the individual mental side of things kind of took over that last game and got in their head a little bit, and it impacted the outcome for the team in the end.
“We gave up the lead, and I think that was a big growing lesson for them, and it was a lesson the coaches really hammered in that next week before the state finals.”
Kaia Bebe, Rebekah Burch, Hannah Elenbaas, Brooke Smith, Eva Wendel and Ella Wendel were the comprised the history-making team. Along with Wheat, coaches Andy Radtke and Judy Radtke are also in the history books.
TC Christian’s boys bowlers did win their Regional and nearly upset top-seeded and eventual Finals champion St. Charles in the opening round of that tournament’s match play, coming up 21 pins shy of the victory. The Sabres’ Hunter Haldaman, Jeremy Hansen and Ella Wendel also competed in the next day’s Singles Finals, with Wendell finishing runner-up and Haldeman reaching the semifinals as both made the all-state first team.
“It was quite a year for TCCS bowling – two conference titles, a Regional boys title and a girls state championship,” noted coach Andy Radtke. “It's shown them what hard work, teamwork, and a never-give-up attitude can accomplish.”
The girls team’s character is what impresses their coaches the most.
“They encourage each other, and they are respectful to their coaches and opponents,” shared coach Judy Radtke, who also teaches at TC Christian. “It was wonderful for me to have several coaches from other teams at the Finals tell me how much they enjoyed bowling with our girls and how nice they were.
“As coaches, we seek to use bowling to help build character in our players, and I'm thankful they were able to demonstrate that on such a big stage.”
The three coaches, who are all related, aren’t really surprised the girls became Finals champions in less than 10 years of competing.
“Andy, my father-in-law, and I talked about it after we won,” Wheat said. “We used to go down there (to the Finals) and look at these teams and go ‘Man, I wonder what that feels like to be that team that wins.
“‘I wonder what it feels like to have that program that can compete at that level,’ and all of sudden we’re sitting in that position,” he continued. “It is hard to process.”
Mounting successes are what Andy Radtke points to for the real lack of surprise. Traverse City Christian’s girls had won Regional championships three of the last four seasons entering this one.
“I’m very pleased, but not surprised,” he said. “During the 2019-20 season they were conference and Regional champions.
“They also did very well at states – finally losing in the semifinals in a very close match,” he continued. “I’m convinced that experience served as a springboard to this year winning the championship.”
Christian’s small enrollment, fewer than 75 students in the high school, is a source of pride for Judy Radtke.
“To be able to successfully compete against schools that are significantly larger than ours feels really good,” she said. “Our school has had several girls teams, in all sports, do well in postseason play.
“Being able to be the first team to win that Finals trophy is incredibly exciting.”
Wheat believes the lessons learned in the second-place Regional finish led to tremendous growth.
“They really buckled down and performed above their years from what we have seen mentally,” he said. “They seemed much more grown up in their competing.
“Being able to control the mental side of it at that level is the difference in champions versus just coming up a bit short,” he explained. “They were able to work through it largely from what had happened the week before.”
The Division 4 Finals title has the school’s athletic director Micah Gallegos beaming with pride for both the girls and boys bowling teams.
“We have great kids who work really hard to develop themselves and their game,” he said. “It is evident that we have created a recipe for success.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Traverse City Christian’s Ella Wendel finds her shot this season. (Middle) Hannah Elenbaas, with the Sabres’ Adam Rasmussen to her left, sends a shot rolling. (Below) Traverse City Christian celebrates its championship March 26 at Canton’s Super Bowl. (Photos courtesy of the Traverse City Christian bowling program.)
Slow Starts Don't Stop D3 Champions
March 7, 2015
By Chip Mundy
Special to Second Half
JACKSON – After the first of the two-game championship match Saturday afternoon, Sam Brandt of Fremont had a 28-pin lead in his quest to become the first back-to-back boys singles champion in MHSAA history.
Sophomore Tyler Kolassa of Warren Lincoln had other ideas.
Kolassa struck in seven of the first eight frames of the second game and went on to defeat Brandt 429-403 to win the MHSAA Division 3 boys singles championship at Airport Lanes in Jackson.
It was a little closer than the final score indicates, however. Brandt stormed back into contention with five strikes in a row, and while a tough task, could have won the match with a double and decent count in the 10th frame.
Brandt’s delivery came in high and left a 6 pin, which he missed. Kolassa won the second game 245-191 to earn the 26-pin victory.
Unlike some who choose not to watch their opponent in a situation like that, Kolassa could not take his eyes off Brandt at the match-deciding moment.
“I watched him; I was right there with him,” Kolassa said.
Kolassa was seeded sixth after averaging 200.8 in the six-game qualifying session. He started with 134 but never went below 198 in the remaining five games of qualifying.
“After that 134 I came back with 246 and just carried on my day,” Kolassa said.
He shared the same pair with Brandt during qualifying and saw first-hand what the smooth right-hander and defending champion was capable of on the lanes.
Brandt qualified fourth and only a 146 final game kept him from being the top seed. He averaged 205.1 in qualifying and was just 16 pins behind qualifying leader Adam Wojtylko of Flat Rock. Brandt had his toughest match en route to the Final in the round of 16, where he won by two pins over Matt Hammer of Armada, while Kolassa edged Brennen Proudfidt of Grand Rapids South Christian by seven in the Semifinals.
In the first game of the championship match, Brandt filled all 10 frames and had two doubles to finish at 212. Kolassa, who had 184, picked up the rare 3-4-6-7 split in the seventh frame but missed a 10 pin in the ninth.
“That first game, I thought he had to miss, but he didn’t miss,” Kolassa said. “I thought it was game over right there.”
Kolassa started the second game with three strikes in a row, and Brandt had open frames in the second, third and fourth. Although Brandt had a chance to win it in the 10th, he didn’t regain the lead.
“I got a little hope there early and took it all the way,” Kolassa said. “It was neck-and-neck and a lot of fun. I thought I might lose, but I held on.
“Honestly, coming into the day I didn’t think I was going to win. I knew I was going to make the cut to the first 16, but I didn’t plan on winning.”
Kolassa’s style makes him stand out on the approach. He uses a six-step approach with a backswing that takes the ball well above his head.
“When I first started to bowl, I was shoulder high,” Kolassa said. “I used to throw the ball so slow, and I complained about not having enough speed. My coach told me to try the high backswing, and I guess I never stopped going higher.”
There was not as much drama on the girls side of the Division 3 singles. Senior Kadee Bechman of Battle Creek Pennfield used a 219 first game to build an 89-pin advantage on Breanna Johnson of Dundee and roll to a 406-346 victory.
It literally was a dream come true for Bechman.
“Last night I had a dream that I would take first place,” she said.
Bechman was seeded sixth after qualifying and, like Kolassa, she struggled in her first game in the morning qualifying session with a 162.
“I just built off of it from there,” she said. “When I found out that I had qualified, I knew that I had to grow on that and not get frustrated with myself and have confidence in myself.”
Bechman shot at least 199 in each of her three matches prior to the championship and won all of them by more than 40 pins. Johnson, a sophomore who was seeded eighth, had a little tougher road as she won one match by five pins and her Semifinal by 22.
However, Bechman grabbed the early lead and never looked back. She had an early double, two in a row in the middle and a late three-bagger for 219, while Johnson had three splits among five open frames as she struggled to a 130.
The second game was academic, and Johnson got back on track with a 216, ending the game with five strikes in a row, while Bechman shot 187.
“I knew if I got that far that I would be able to finish it,” Bechman said of her 89-pin lead after one game.
Bechman has been a life-long bowler, starting the game at age 3. She is a four-time all-conference selection and hopes to attend Olivet College or take a year off and coach bowling. She also aspires to become a professional in the future.
A right-hander with a four-step approach, she has been bowling this year while wearing a knee brace, but that did nothing to slow her down.
“At the beginning of the year, I fell on the gutter in practice and busted my knee,” she said. “It wasn’t too serious, but I’ve just been wearing a knee brace and getting stronger with it.”
The season – and her high school career – culminated in an MHSAA Finals singles championship.
Click for full girls results and boys results.