In Newest Bowling Role, Myers has EGR Boys Rolling
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
March 12, 2021
EAST GRAND RAPIDS – Hunter Myers is performing a rare double role in athletics this winter.
The Vicksburg High School graduate is the first-year varsity bowling coach at East Grand Rapids, while also competing as a collegiate bowler.
The 21-year-old Myers is a junior on the Aquinas College men’s bowling team.
His opportunity to take the reins of the program occurred while interning for Pioneers’ athletic director Tim Johnston.
“He lost his bowling coach, and he brought me in and asked if I would take it,” Myers said. “I thought that would be a great idea, and I thought I could help out a lot and try to make things a little better.”
Myers inherited a boys squad that had struggled in recent years. East Grand Rapids won only one match in 2019 and was 6-14 last season.
This season was put on hold by the pandemic as high school sports were shut down in early November. But bowling was one of the first sports to return in January, and it’s currently been a season to remember as the Pioneers are experiencing a turnaround that few expected.
“Things weren’t going very good for them, so I was looking forward to helping them in any way I could,” Myers said. “It’s been an amazing experience, and I can’t complain one bit. I’m doing it for the kids, because when everything got shut down I didn’t even know if I would have a team.
“We had a girls team of seven and 18 guys came out so I was able to pick six and we’ve run with it ever since. I love the kids, and everything has been going well.”
The boys team is currently 9-5-1 on the season after a loss to conference leader Byron Center on Wednesday.
That setback hasn’t diminished the vast improvement made by the Pioneers’ starters. Each bowler has made giant strides and improved his averages by 30-50 pins.
“I just got blessed with a good team with kids who are competitive and had some basics down,” Myers said. “They just needed some fine tuning, and now their averages have increased by a lot.”
East Grand Rapids has been led by junior Corbin Olsson, who boasts a 201 average.
Olsson averaged around 170 last season, but has seen his pin total rise through hard work and the addition of an experienced fresh face at the helm.
“I thought it was going to be good to have someone like him coach us because he has experience bowling in tournaments and bowling in high school and college, so he knows what it’s like,” Olsson said. “Last year was a pretty rough season, but with the new coaches and some new kids on the team it has definitely helped.
“Coach has helped us with positioning, as far as where to stand and aim the ball. He also helps us to stay positive and have a good mental attitude toward the game.”
Junior Finn Moher is averaging 189, while the other juniors include Gavin Bishop (173), Cameron Brandstadt (176) and Michael Columbo (167).
Beau Stancil (151) is the lone senior.
Myers said he is pleasantly surprised by the team’s success.
“I didn’t know we would be doing as well as we have,” he said. “Now we’re third in the conference and we’re looking pretty good for Regionals coming up.”
While Myers has provided fresh insight to his team, he said his bowlers have dedicated themselves to getting better.
“They are putting in a lot of time on the lanes this year because they see what they can do, and they go out on their own and bowl together on the weekends,” he said. “We have two practices a week where they all work hard for an hour and a half, and we work on picking up spares and figuring out oil patterns as to what their ball is doing.”
Moher said Myers is showing the team different aspects of bowling that they didn’t know prior to his arrival.
“Just learning how to adjust to different lane conditions and how to move when our shot is not working,” he said. “He’s given us some confidence in ourselves and we’re starting to win, which has helped a lot.
“Our first Bakers game is usually pretty good, but then the second one we don’t do as well. Individually we do really well, and I’m already looking forward to next year because I think we’re going to be really good with basically everyone coming back.”
Myers visited his former school for EGR’s first match, competing against his father James, who is the coach at Vicksburg.
Hunter won family bragging rights as the Pioneers rolled to a 26-4 win.
“My dad coached me in high school, and I called him and set up a match down there,” Myers said. “That was the first big surprise of the season, and that was a sweet victory for me.”
Myers said the parental support has been satisfying during the course of the season as East Grand Rapids has overcome past struggles en route to respectability.
“They think I’m some kind of wizard who made their bowlers really good, but they had it in them the whole time,” Myers said. “It’s just that nobody has really tapped into it.”
The Pioneers will compete next weekend at Regionals in Comstock Park.
“I think we have a shot at doing pretty well, and we’re definitely going to do a lot better than last year,” Olsson said. “It feels good to be on a winning team instead of one that loses all the time, and we all get along as a team. It’s been fun.”
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.
PHOTO: Hunter Myers, far left, is in his first season leading the East Grand Rapids boys bowling program. (Photo courtesy of the EGR bowling program.)
Lindsley Rolls Some Perfection Into Vassar's Inaugural Bowling Season
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
February 18, 2026
Bowling was brand new to Vassar High School this season. It was also brand new to all but one of the bowlers on the team.
“None of them had touched a ball (competitively) before our first practice on November 14,” Vassar coach Kevin Lindsley said.
So, imagine Lindsley’s surprise when his team qualified for the match play portion of the boys Big Thumb Conference Championships – and finished among the top six of the league tournament this past weekend.
“Oh yeah, the first thing I asked, and I was kind of being funny, was ‘Do you guys give out Coach of the Year?’” Lindsley said. “We just took a team that had never touched a bowling ball three months ago and placed. As soon as my son bowled his 300 (at the league singles tournament Jan. 31) and they announced it, the first thing people said was, ‘Vassar has a bowling team? When did they get a bowling team?’”
The Vulcans are entering their first postseason Wednesday and Thursday in the Division 4 Regional at Monitor Lanes in Bay City. The team competition is Wednesday, and the singles on Thursday.
They will be rolling for a spot in the Division 4 Finals on Feb. 27 and 28 at Skore Lanes in Taylor.
“My son, Zander, we’ve always bowled and he knows a lot of kids from Genesee County that he grew up with, and they’re all starting to bowl in high school,” Lindsley said. “He wanted to bowl, and I wanted him to bowl in high school, so last year I took it upon myself to try to start a team. We tried to get a team last year, but it didn’t work out. With me getting out there more and a little more word of mouth, this year it worked out way better.”
A total of eight bowlers came out for the program’s inaugural year: seven boys and one girl. And even more important for the future of the program, five of those eight – Zachary Nott, Bradley Dantzer, John Adams, Zander Lindsley and Maci Noyce – are freshmen. There are also three seniors in the program: Caeleb Partridge, Devin Patterson and Edman Wood.
With the numbers to start a team, and a home alley at Brentwood Lanes in Caro, Kevin Lindsley then had to help them become bowlers.
“A couple weeks before the season, I took them to get new balls, and they were used balls, but we got them all cleaned up, professionally fitted, drilled new holes,” Lindsley said. “They all got a ball, bag and shoes. Basically, what I coach or teach them is from my experience. I teach them the details of bowling, to read lane conditions, angles, spare systems, wrist technique, for, basically like you do for any sport. Then, when you actually get to competition, when you put somebody across from you, you say, ‘OK, now go out and outscore them.’ It’s a totally different feeling than when you’re just having some pizza and beers and chucking balls and high-fiving and giggling with your friends.”
One bowler who was not starting from scratch in November was Zander Lindsley, who has been bowling since he was 5 years old.
In his first high school season, he took the lanes by storm, bowling the aforementioned 300 game on his way to the Big Thumb Conference individual title. It was the first 300 game of his life.
“I didn’t even realize that I was at the 10th frame and had 10 strikes in a row,” he said. “I was just bowling to bowl. It hit me right away when I did it. I turned around and saw my dad and he was so pumped. We chest-bumped. Everyone was yelling and screaming, it was awesome.”
Amazingly, Zander had to come down from the high of a perfect game and win more matches to become the conference champion.
“He said it was very hard and that he was pretty exhausted after the 300,” Kevin Lindsley said. “It took a lot out of him. And another thing, his dad is his coach, so I’m literally behind the lane talking him through this. Once it did happen, we were kind of emotional about it. It did add a little exhaustion to the task.”
Zander now has his eyes set on bigger postseason goals.
“Well, first I’m trying to qualify for Regionals and qualify for states,” he said. “And hopefully win states.”
That would be quite a cap on a first season that has already exceeded expectations in Vassar, but one the Lindsleys are hoping is just the beginning of bigger things for Vulcans bowling.
“Fingers crossed, yes,” Zander said.
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Vassar bowling coach Kevin Lindsley, right, and son Zander pose for a photo during the program’s inaugural season. (Middle) Zander Lindsley holds up the bracket after winning the Big Thumb Conference boys singles championship Jan. 31. (Photos courtesy of the Vassar bowling program.)