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.

Gift of Bowling Keeps Giving as Eisenhower's Harnden Pursues Championship Repeat

By Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com

January 30, 2025

Birthday parties usually feature the best gifts for the person celebrating the birthday. But in this case, the best gift might have ended up going to one of the party’s attendees. 

Greater DetroitBack when he was in fifth grade, current Utica Eisenhower senior bowler Dylan Harnden was invited to a birthday party at Shelby Lanes in Shelby Township by friend and current Eisenhower bowling teammate Kingston Corpuz.

That day, they celebrated Corpuz – and Harnden received the gift of being introduced to bowling. 

“That was his first time bowling, and he basically got the bug that he wanted to bowl,” he said Dylan’s father and current Eisenhower coach Mark Harnden. “From that point forward, he just kind of wanted to get better and better.”

The last couple of years, it can be argued that there’s been no better high schooler in the state.

Last year as a junior, Harnden captured the Division 1 Singles Finals title after also winning his Regional. Naturally, he was named to the all-state Dream Team by the Michigan High School Interscholastic Bowling Coaches Association.

This season, Harnden completed a unique career trifecta by winning the individual title at the Macomb County championship. 

“I can say that I’ve won that tournament along with other great Macomb bowlers who have won that tournament,” he said. “It was great to see myself winning it.”

In addition, Harnden is sporting a 222 average — one pin below his average last year — and has scholarship offers in tow from two prestigious college bowling programs, St. Ambrose University in Iowa and Trine University in Indiana. 

Not bad for someone who didn’t know anything about the sport until that birthday party invite roughly seven years ago.

“It only took me maybe about a half year to a year to get the hang of everything and get really good,” Harnden said. “It was interesting at first.”

In addition to winning the state title last season, Harnden as a sophomore in 2023 finished first out of the qualifying block at the Division 1 Final but ended up falling to eventual champion Brendan Riley of Waterford Mott in the quarterfinal round. 

This year, Harnden’s big objective has been continuing to master mental aspects of the game. 

“A lot of things this year compared to last year is the same stuff, except for trying to expand my knowledge,” he said. “Knowing how to transition better, knowing what balls to go to and trying to hit different shots. Just expanding knowledge mainly from last year to this year just so if I encounter new scenarios, I can use it better.”

Mark Harnden said Dylan when he was younger tried a one-handed bowling style, but quickly discovered that going with the two-handed style was a better fit for him.

“It allowed him to bowl with a heavier bowling ball,” he said. “As you know, heavier balls don’t tend to deflect off the pins.”

This year, not only could Dylan Harnden be a contender to win another Singles Finals title, but he has a decent shot of being part of a team champion thanks to a merger. 

The Utica and Eisenhower bowling programs joined forces as one this year, something Mark Harnden said was talked about for a while due to low participation numbers experienced by both programs.

“We’re trying to really allow two programs to survive in the downside until more kids get interested in bowling,” he said. 

What the merger has created is a pair of powerful combined Utica-Eisenhower programs.

The girls team now features contributors from last season’s Macomb Area Conference Red and White champions joined together as one, with returning all-state bowlers Ava Mazza (sophomore, Utica) and Sophia Matheson (senior, Eisenhower) atop an incredibly deep lineup.

For the boys, what was the outstanding duo of Harnden and Corpuz has turned into a terrific trio, with sophomore Marco Mazza joining the fray. Ava and Marco Mazza are twins whose father, John, bowled professionally.

Keith DunlapKeith Dunlap has served in Detroit-area sports media for more than two decades, including as a sportswriter at the Oakland Press from 2001-16 primarily covering high school sports but also college and professional teams. His bylines also have appeared in USA Today, the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the Houston Chronicle and the Boston Globe. He served as the administrator for the Oakland Activities Association’s website from 2017-2020. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.

(Photo of Dylan Harnden courtesy of the Harnden family.)