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Zeeland Brings Back Full Lineup for Another Title Pursuit
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
December 17, 2021
ZEELAND – The Zeeland girls bowling team fell short in its bid for back-to-back Division 1 championships last season.
However, Zeeland isn’t short on talent this winter as it returns everyone from March’s run to the quarterfinals.
"I think having everyone back is great, and also having a full season,” said Zeeland coach Tony DiLaura, whose team lost to eventual runner-up Belleville at the Finals after qualifying fourth to match play.
“Last year we started after the new year, and having the first six weeks leading into the new year has been great. Having everyone back, and even a couple of reserves who can still roll high 100s and low 200s, is super exciting for us.”
The team, which is comprised of students from both Zeeland West and Zeeland East, won a Regional title as well last season.
Zeeland’s top seven performers are back: seniors Morgan Smith, Ellie Drenten and Megan Gemmill, juniors Alyssa Fortney and Shanna McDonnel and sophomores Rylee Smith and Brianna Fortney.
Brianna Fortney missed last season's Finals after having emergency appendix surgery.
“I was very upset to say the least that I could not bowl,” Fortney said. “I was kind of bummed and disappointed that I could not be there to help my team, but I’m happy to be back and this is a fun team to be with."
Zeeland won the program’s first Finals crown in 2020, and watched as neighborhood rival Hudsonville collected its first title with a win over Belville in the championship match.
“We were obviously very happy with coming in fifth in the state, and there were some great teams out there,” DiLaura said. “We bowl out of the same house as Hudsonville, and they are good friends of ours. We’ve had several friendly competitions against them, and bowling is like that. Sometimes the pins fall your way, and sometimes you don’t get the carry.”
All of Zeeland’s returnees have experience bowling on the big stage, and it’s created heightened expectations for this season.
“It’s very beneficial because they’ve been there before, and they know the pressure of that arena,” DiLaura said. “Having been there twice already, they’ve been put in those situations and have risen to the challenge.
“Hopefully we will be back this year, but we have to earn our way there. I think the goal for us is to just bowl our game and not put any pressure on ourselves. We will let the season unfold in front of us and see what happens, but having been there in the past does bode well for us.”
There are two sets of sisters among the top seven, and the entire team has become a tight-knit group.
“It’s so nice to have everyone back because we have that bond together and we know we can work off of each other,” said Morgan Smith, who qualified for singles at the Finals and reached bracket play before being knocked out in the quarterfinals. “We have seven strong girls and a couple freshmen who are pretty strong and learning.
“We know if someone is struggling or having a bad day, we always have backups that can put up good scores. It’s a lot more comforting and takes away some of the pressure.”
Zeeland’s depth has played a major factor in its recent success.
“We go pretty deep down to our seventh bowler,” DiLaura said. “We know we can put in any bowler and feel confident that they can finish the game off or step in for the next game and perform at a high level.”
Rylee Smith joined her sister as a Finals singles qualifier last season. Both girls grew up around the game before taking it seriously once Morgan Smith started high school.
“It’s fun bowling with my sister,” Morgan Smith said. “Most people think we have a lot of competition between us, and we do sometimes, but it's definitely fun because we know each other’s games so we are the first person to go to each other when we have questions. It’s nice to have someone right there who knows your game almost as well as you do.”
The Fortney sisters also have a friendly rivalry between them.
“We used to be very competitive with each other, but we realize that it doesn’t matter who is the better sister,” Brianna Fortney said. “We have to show up for our team and be there for them.”
Morgan Smith’s showing at last year’s Finals was the culmination of the work she put in to improve.
“I went in with low expectations last year because there were so many good bowlers that made it, so making it as far as I did was really exciting for me,” Smith said. “It showed me what I can do after putting in the hard work. That the results will come. I’m excited to try and do that again this year, and last year was definitely a cool experience.”
Dean Holzwarth has covered primarily high school sports for Grand Rapids-based WOOD-TV for four years after serving at the Grand Rapids Press and MLive for 16 years along with shorter stints at the Ionia Sentinel and WZZM. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Allegan, Kent and Ottawa counties.
PHOTOS (Top) The Zeeland girls bowling team returns its top seven contributors after making the Division 1 quarterfinals in March. (Middle) Morgan Smith fires a shot last winter. (Photos courtesy of the Zeeland girls bowling program.)
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Legacies Created, Grow with D2 Winners
March 7, 2015
By Sarah Jaeger
Special for Second Half
WATERFORD – Flint Kearsley can add another championship to its school bowling history. Muskegon Reeths-Puffer can add its first.
After Kearsley won its second Finals team title in as many years Friday, junior Chad Stephens took home the singles title Saturday at Century Lanes in Waterford. Reeths-Puffer senior Kayleigh Gonzalez, meanwhile, claimed her school’s first bowling title in her first Singles Finals appearance.
"It's pretty great, back-to-back titles as a team and coming back and winning singles," Stephens said. "It's pretty incredible."
To claim his second championship of the weekend, Stephens in the Final faced Charlotte senior Collin Fox, no stranger to competing for an MHSAA title.
"I think he's a great quality bowler," said Charlotte coach David Jackson. "He finished third last year. I think he was in the final eight the year before. I kind of thought he'd go all the way today."
However, Stephens jumped to an early lead with a 226 to Fox's 179. While Fox came back with a 207, Stephens finished the set with a 187 to win with a total of 413 to Fox's 386.
While the end result may not have been to Fox's liking, he will take with him a memorable moment from the 2015 Singles Finals. "Picking up the 7-10," said Fox. "That's probably the highlight. I guess it's a good way to end senior year."
"I'm sorry to lose him," Jackson added. " I kept telling him to fail some test so he could come back and bowl some more. He wouldn't listen."
The toughest match for Stephens may not have been the Final but rather the Semifinal, where he had to take on his teammate, Kearsley senior Anthony Kelley.
"I don't really like facing a teammate," said Stephens, "but on the lanes it's just business. You have to work hard for this game no matter who you're bowling."
"I had to continually remind them to take it seriously because after this you've got one more match to bowl somebody," said Flint Kearsley coach Bart Rutledge. "So you can't let up and let the emotion go."
Emotions were high in the girls singles competition as well. The final match pinned Muskegon Reeths-Puffer’s Gonzalez against Tecumseh junior Kayla Wild.
While both left some open frames during the first game, Gonzales was able to put a string of strikes together and take the lead 210 to 175.
"I knew that I had a little bit of an advantage because I had a 210 the first game," said Gonzalez. "So as long as I kept at a steady pace with her, I knew I was ok."
Pace she did. Gonzalez finished with a 182 while Wild had trouble covering some of her spares, throwing a 175 for her last game.
"I thought I bowled well all day," Wild said. "I was surprised when I missed that many spares the last game. I know my thumb started to hurt, but that's not an excuse. I could have got them."
While she may have appeared calm after claiming the Division 2 singles championship, Gonzalez was in shock.
"I was kind of surprised," said Gonzalez, who will attend Muskegon Community College next year and bowl for the Jayhawks. "I didn't think I'd actually win. I was just happy to get into the top 16."
"This was the third year in a row we were able to come for Team (Finals)," said Reeths-Puffer assistant coach, Marc Vanderstelt, also Gonzalez's stepdad, "but the first chance for Kayleigh as an individual in the three years she's been on the team. She just did a phenomenal job."
As for the runner-up, Wild, this was only her third year bowling. Being a junior, she is poised to come back stronger for her senior year.
"You know when you get to that top 16 anything can happen," said Tecumseh coach Ken Richard. "We'll work on her spare shooting and the mental game to pull it off."
Wild's hope is to do what Kearsley's Stephen did this year: "A state championship, either team or individual, or both would work."
Click for full girls results and full boys results.