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.)
Mother/Daughter Pair Powering Gobles Bowling's Growth
By
Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com
December 14, 2021
GOBLES — When it comes to high school bowling, Morgan Brunner and Alexis Diamond are perfect examples that the team sport is for anyone.
Brunner, a junior who began bowling when she was 3 years old, is the reigning MHSAA Division 4 girls singles champion.
Diamond, a senior, started bowling this year and has no experience other than birthday bowling parties.
In spite of the vast difference in experience, both are integral parts of the Gobles bowling team.
They also are the only girls on the boys team.
For the second-straight season, there was not enough interest to field a girls team, so Brunner and Diamond joined the five varsity male bowlers.
“When I first started bowling, I had to bowl against boys because in the U12 division in tournaments, we couldn’t get enough girls, so I’m kinda used to it,” Brunner said.
“It does help me because boys usually score higher, so it makes me work harder and harder.”
Diamond, who also is a member of the marching band, said bowling is similar in that it is not a gender-specific sport.
“The boys have embraced the girls as their own, and I think it’s made our girls better bowlers,” coach Karrie Brunner said. “Even though we do have a little bit of disappointment (because there is not a full girls team), it is fun to work with the boys, too.”
The Brunners, mother and daughter, were instrumental in starting the team.
When Brunner was a freshman, no bowling team existed at the high school.
“I promised Morgan that if she wanted to bowl in high school, I would coach her,” her mom said.
Athletic director Chris Miller gave the go-ahead, and a bowling team was born.
Interest in the girls team lasted just one year, so last year Morgan Brunner also bowled with the boys during the regular season. Girls are allowed to bowl on the boys team and then switch to the girls postseason as long as they compete in a minimum number of regular-season girls competitions.
At Regionals, “I was pretty much my own team,” the junior said. “I competed in individuals with the girls, which made me able to go to states and gave some of the freshmen (boys) who never bowled a chance to bowl at Regionals.”
Brunner made the most of her run at the state tournament.
Seeded third, she bested the sixth, second and top seeds for the title.
“I don’t think it really matters where you’re seeded,” she said. “If you work hard and get through all the matches, you should be good.
“You can come from the bottom and make it to the top.”
That experience has helped her become a better bowler, she said.
“Throughout my whole season so far, it’s taught me not to give up, even if you have a low game,” Brunner said.
“Stay positive throughout the day because that’s something I did at state, too, and it helped me.”
Having her mother as her coach is nothing new.
Her mom and dad, Scott, have coached her since she was a preschooler.
Her dad runs Scott Brunner’s Pro Shop at Continental Lanes in Portage, and when she was very young, “I’d go to the pro shop with my dad all day, so I would bowl all day,” Morgan Brunner said.
“I started bowling competitively at 9 or 10. I’ve just stuck with it since.”
During all those years, her mom, dad and grandpa Bill Keirns have been her three main coaches.
However, bowling every week with mom as a coach is a bit different than in tournaments.
“It’s mostly good,” Morgan Brunner said. “She knows what I’m working on and what I have to work on or if I need help on something.
“If I need something different and I don’t know what, she can help me with that. She tries to keep me positive.
“She knows everything about my game,” Brunner continued. “Even if she sees one thing that’s different, she’ll point it out and I’ll be like …” she said, shaking her hand.
Karrie Brunner said she is thankful for the bonding time with her daughter.
“I know sometimes it’s hard to have Mom around cramping your style, but I love that we get this bond and get to do this together,” she said.
“Her dad and I both coach her when she bowls individual events, but this just adds to the bond. To get to watch her become a leader on the team is really fun.”
Talking about wins and losses at home is a no-no.
“We have rules in our family that it stays on the lanes no matter what happens, whether it’s individual or team,” Karrie said.
“Scott and I had to develop that for our games, so we taught the girls that. She has to leave it at the bowling center.”
With no bowling center in Gobles, the team’s home house is Revel & Roll West in Kalamazoo, about a half hour away.
“It does pose some challenges, especially for the kids, but it was the best choice for us,” Brunner said. “We work with the kids if they can’t make it or need rides.”
New bowlers like Diamond have added to a worthwhile coaching experience.
Working with Diamond, “it’s fun,” Brunner said. “You’re teaching somebody to love the game that they can do when they graduate, when they get older.”
One area Diamond hopes to improve is “keeping my arm straight. It has a mind of its own,” she said.
Eric Phillips and James Goerke are the only other seniors on the team, and Oskar Wood is the lone sophomore. Juniors include Nolan Vanhorn and Owen Nuyen.
Brunner uses all seven bowlers in a match, subbing out so everyone has a chance to bowl.
The key to this year’s team is camaraderie, the coach said.
“The boys get along great and with the girls, I think they’re finally getting into their own skin,” Karrie Brunner said. “They’ve done it a couple years now, so everybody’s getting comfortable and they’re getting that desire that we can actually win.”
Pam Shebest served as a sportswriter at the Kalamazoo Gazette from 1985-2009 after 11 years part-time with the Gazette while teaching French and English at White Pigeon High School. She can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Calhoun, Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Morgan Brunner is returning for Gobles this winter after winning the Division 4 singles championship last season. (Middle) From top down, Gobles coach Karrie Brunner, Morgan Brunner and Alexis Diamond. (Below) Morgan Brunner warms up before a recent match at Revel & Roll West in Portage. (Photos by Pam Shebest.)