Stockbridge's Keene, Onsted's Nichols Make Every Pin Count
By
Jeff Bleiler
Special for MHSAA.com
March 4, 2023
Onsted's Sydney Nichols knows the value of a single bowling pin.
At last year’s Division 3 Singles Finals, Nichols missed the 16th and final match play spot by that smallest of margins.
She turned that disappointment into determination and entered this year’s Finals with a goal of making the top eight. Instead, she won the whole thing.
Nichols, a junior, threw four straight strikes late in the second game of the two-game final match to defeat Coloma senior Savannah Hamilton, 375-370, on Saturday at Jax 60.
On the boys side, Stockbridge senior Mason Keene defeated Gladwin junior Harvey Zelt, 407-353.
“I wanted to at least make it to the top eight to be all-state, and now somehow I made it here,” Nichols said.
Nichols safely qualified ninth with a six-game total of 1,102 after starting things off with a 201. She won her first match — and accomplished her goal — by a 347-306 count over Midland Bullock Creek senior Brooklynn Marshall before advancing to the semifinals with a 393-349 victory over Cheboygan senior Izzy Portman. Nichols’ 224 game to open that match was the highest score of any of the games bowled in the match play portion.
She then earned a 15-pin victory over Hillsdale junior Chloe Manifold, 330-315, before taking on Hamilton. In the championship, Nichols trailed by 15 after the first game and trailed by two pins in the sixth frame of the second game before catching the clutch four-bagger to seal it. She had nothing but strikes or single-pin spares in that game.
“That was really important,” Nichols said.
Her coach, Roger Clark, said her mental approach to the sport showed all day.
“If you don’t have a spare game, you don’t have any game,” he said. “We told her, ‘You’re in control of your own game. I’m just here for guidance.’ She pulled through.”
Nichols, who has been bowling since she was about 8 years old in nearby Hudson, said her mental acuity was important.
“If you get in your head, you’re going to start pulling it, and I got in my head and would pull it, but I came back with a spare for the most part,” she said.
When asked what her senior year might entail, she responded: “Two-peat maybe?”
Hamilton qualified as the 10th seed and defeated 2021 champion and 2022 runner-up Elizabeth Teuber in the opening match by nine, denying the Flint Powers Catholic junior a team and individual Finals title in the same weekend.
While Nichols has been bowling for many years, Keene only picked up the sport a year and a half ago. He nearly did not have a senior season to enjoy since the Stockbridge program had no coach.
He didn’t have to look far to find one.
“I didn’t think we were going to have a season and the only thing you can do is ask, so I asked my dad and he agreed to be a coach and it’s awesome,” Keene said of his father, Nathan. “He’s been bowling for 20-plus years so as soon as he saw me pick it up, he was super happy.”
Keene nearly had his day end early Saturday. He rolled 1,144 for the six games of qualifying — boosted by a 265 third game — to snatch the 16th and final spot by three pins. That earned him a match against top-seeded Dustin Moeckel, a Napoleon senior who averaged 215 during qualifying.
Keene won 403-337 to jumpstart a match-play session during which he never shot below 200 and averaged 213 for eight games. He saved the best for the quarterfinals where he shot 224 and 246 to oust Armada junior Ryan Ching, 470-312.
He rolled games of 202 and 225 in the semifinals to deny last year’s runner-up, Ogemaw Heights senior Tyler Downs, a shot at redemption, 427-386. For his part, Zelt took out the reigning champion, Cheboygan senior Cole Swanberg, in the other semifinal to further prevent a rematch of the 2022 final.
In the championship, Keene led by 17 after the first game, taking advantage of an open 10th frame by Zelt. A three-bagger in the fifth through seventh frames of the second game secured the title.
“I just had to keep my head in it, keep my spare game strong and make good shots,” said Keene, the lone left-hander among the quarterfinalists. “That definitely helped. I didn’t have to move much, and when I did it was small. I just kept my shot in the entire time.”
Kearsley Girls Repeat with Rivalry Win, Northview Boys Claim 1st Title
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
March 4, 2022
CANTON – It’s hard to create rivalries in bowling with how fickle the sport can be and how different teams win so often. But the Flint Kearsley and Mason girls programs have appeared to start a nice rivalry in Division 2.
Two years ago in the semifinals, Mason ended Kearsley’s six-year run as state champion en route to winning it all.
Last year, Kearsley avenged that loss, beating Mason in the championship match to reclaim the throne.
The team portion of the 2022 MHSAA Division 2 Finals turned out to be a three-peat, with Kearsley and Mason once again squaring off in the championship match.
This one ended up going to Kearsley, which rallied from a 25-pin deficit after the two Baker games to earn a 1,178-1,143 victory over the Bulldogs and claim its seventh Division 2 Finals title in eight years.
“I do know the long history between Mason and Kearsley,” said Hornets first-year head coach Kailee Tubbs as she and her team wiped away tears of joy during the celebration. “I think it’s one of those things where we really look forward every year to facing them.”
Kearsley beat Mason 850-790 in the regular game to prevail, with Lydia Boggs setting the pace with a 191. The Hornets finished first in the qualifying block and stayed hot through the final to earn a wire-to-wire victory.
“I just wanted them to stay loose,” Tubbs said. “The biggest thing was having them relax.”
Mason head coach Russ Whipple said it’s been a lot of fun establishing a rivalry with a program like Kearsley, but that it just wasn’t meant to be for his team in the regular game.
“We were right there at the end and didn’t have a couple of things fall our way,” Whipple said. “I don’t think either team scored exceptionally well that last game. It was just one of those things, and it’s how it goes.”
In the boys competition, Grand Rapids Northview won its first Finals title in what also was a wire-to-wire victory.
The Wildcats finished first out of the qualifying block and kept their rhythm throughout, earning a 1,287-1,229 win over Tecumseh in the championship match.
“We’ve made it to match play the last three years and been knocked out in the first round,” Northview head coach Harold Klukowski said. “This one is special. I brought the same exact team back from last year and the state didn’t recognize the guys. We came from unranked to No. 1.”
Just like the Kearsley girls, Northview rallied after trailing going into the regular game.
Tecumseh held an eight-pin lead after the two Baker games, but Northview won the regular game 929-863 with David Frey at 217 leading three Wildcats above 200.
“Experience and trust,” Klukowski described as the difference this year. “The guys didn’t bite, and they didn’t bicker. They listened to the coaches, and they executed. It was a grind in the Bakers. The guys struggled to find their shot early. After that, they settled in and made good shots.”
Tecumseh was making its second appearance in the championship match in four years after also finishing runner-up in 2019.
Despite coming up short of a title, there’s a lot of reason for optimism for Tecumseh with a sophomore-dominated lineup and only one senior.
“We were in the final four last year, so another step closer,” Tecumseh head coach Eric Wigner said. “We’ll just keep working at it, and hopefully next year will be our year.”
The Kearsley girls earned a 1,125-1,109 win over St. Clair Shores Lake Shore in a quarterfinal before defeating Carleton Airport in the semifinals, 1,264-1,220.
The Northview boys downed 2021 champion Dearborn Divine Child in the quarterfinals, 1,460-1,331, before earning a 1,347-1,323 win over Jackson Northwest in the semifinals.
PHOTOS (Top) The Flint Kearsley girls team huddles after repeating as Division 2 champion Friday. (Middle) The Grand Rapids Northview boys celebrate their first title. (Click for more from Champions Photography.)