No More 'Just Misses' for D2 Champions
March 1, 2014
By Sarah Jaeger
Special to Second Half
WATERFORD – What a difference a year makes.
After the 2013 Division 2 Singles Finals, Alex Ouellette from Bay City John Glenn left Century Lanes after coming in second place, vowing to return and win it all.
Fast forward to Saturday, and Ouellette is the 2014 boys champion.
"I knew if I stayed slow and made good shots, I could beat anyone and that's all I had to do," Ouellette said.
The senior cruised through the morning block, even shooting a 300 in the fourth game, and qualified first with a score of 1,463.
"I kind of didn't realize I had the front 8 because I was focused on being consistent and making good shots," Ouellette said. "Then it just came down to the 10th frame, and it was just three more strikes."
"He never really struggled throughout the day," Bay City John Glenn coach Craig Block said. "After those first couple matches when we got up there and shot the 300, I'm sure he felt on top of the world because I did."
In the first round of match play, Ouellette edged junior Anthony Kelley of Flint Kearsley by just five pins. But it was smooth sailing as Ouellette then went on to beat sophomore Chad Stephen of Kearsley in the Quarterfinal and junior Cody Wilkins in the Semifinal.
However, Warren Fitzgerald senior Alec Nunn was waiting for him in the Final to settle a score from 2013.
"He beat me out last year, and I wanted to get another chance at him again," said Nunn of his loss to Ouellette in the previous year's Round of 16. "Runner-up doesn't feel too bad, but I wanted another shot at him."
While each bowler has his unique style and form, Nunn has an uncommon approach, throwing right-handed and sliding on his right foot.
"I asked him when he first started, ‘Do you want to change?’" Warren Fitzgerald coach Rick Schultz said. "He said no, so we just worked with what he had and everything has worked out fine for Alec."
Ouellette got out to an early lead with a 248 to Nunn's 177 in the first game. Even though the second game margin was only two pins, Ouellette had too big of a lead and won his school's second singles title with a match score of 479-410.
While both boys finalists were looking for redemptions on the lanes this year, they were not the only ones.
Tecumseh senior Lauren McKowen missed making it into last year's Finals by one pin and had to watch as teammate Jordan Richard won her second straight singles championship.
But instead of setting her sites on the top prize like Ouellette, McKowen decided to take it one step at a time.
"I just wanted to take it day by day, senior year try and make it your best and that's what happened,” McKowen said.
She placed fourth in the Saturday morning qualifying block and proceeded to beat senior Alysha Sobeck of Gaylord and senior Katelynn Maxwell of Flint Kearsley in the bracket.
McKowen had to beat Richard in the semi to get in the Final. After the first of two games, only two pins separated the teammates. But in the end, McKowen was able to pull out the win 481-431.
"I am the one coach that's not shy about saying I hate singles, and it's for that reason," said Ken Richard, one of Tecumseh's coaches and Jordan's father. "It's tougher for me than most coaches because one was my daughter. But you know the girls have grown up together inside a bowling alley. This wasn't their first head-to-head match, and Lauren came out on top."
With McKowen hoping to become the fourth individual singles champion for the girls in school history, she still had to face Samantha Knight, a senior from Richland Gull Lake, a team in only its fourth year having a bowling program.
"I never really thought when I started my freshman year with our small teams that four years later I'd be here," Knight said.
Knight qualified in the 11th position from the morning but wasn't going to let one bad game get her down.
"She bowled a 133, which just plummeted her scores down," said her coach and mother, Hilary Knight. "But she found her ball, found her line and just kept on going. I know that can really throw you one way or the other, but she managed to rebound."
"Fighting in a lower seed is kind of fun," Samantha Knight added. "You're kind of an underdog."
The "underdog" took the edge in the first game and won 177-174. However, McKowen came back with a 214 in the second to Knight’s 209 to win the match by three pins.
"I still can't believe," McKowen said after the match. "I just can't believe it's true right now.”
Click for full boys results and full girls results.
PHOTOS: The MHSAA Division 2 Finals boys and girls medalists.
Keeping to Form, Kearsley Girls Bounce Back from 2025 Miss with 2026 Success
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
February 27, 2026
WATERFORD — Recent history certainly has shown one thing about the Flint Kearsley girls bowling program:
The Hornets may go one year without winning a state championship, but they don’t go two years in a row without a title.
That was the case again Friday at the Division 2 Finals, as Kearsley reclaimed its spot on the state’s throne by sweeping Marshall in the championship match.
It was the 11th Finals title since 2012 for Kearsley. Every year during that stretch that Kearsley has failed to win a championship, it has come back and won the following season.
Hornets senior Delaney Vanier said as is usually the case, not winning the title last year stoked a fire within the team throughout the season and again Friday.
“One hundred and 10 percent,” she said. “We pushed ourselves to the max every practice, every match and every tournament. This is what we wanted, and this is what we came to do.”
For the first part of the day though, Kearsley struggled.
It was the No. 5 seed out of the qualifying block, and the situation really seemed dire when Kearsley fell behind 2-0 to Tecumseh in the Quarterfinal round.
“We had to have a few talks today because we were missing some easy spares,” Kearsley head coach Jeff Vanier said. “We were throwing good shots, but it just wasn’t happening. We were down 0-2 in the first match. We ended up winning three and juggled some things around. We ended up going sweep, sweep.”
Delaney Vanier said she had one thought when the team fell behind 0-2 to Tecumseh.
“Scary,” Vanier said. “I was so nervous. My adrenaline was going crazy. But I’m glad we pulled through.”
After beating Tecumseh, Kearsley swept top-seeded Bay City John Glenn in the Semifinals.
The Hornets then rolled past first-time finalist Marshall 169-113, 154-126, 182-154.
The Redhawks had advanced to the Semifinals by the narrowest of margins against 2025 champion Swartz Creek. The teams were tied two games apiece going into the fifth and then were tied after the fifth game, prompting a roll-off.
Marshall won the roll-off by one pin, and then defeated Dearborn Divine Child 3-1 in the Semifinals.
“A heck of a run,” Marshall head coach Jim Stealy said. “Our kids bowled their tails off. They learned to bowl in pressure situations. Out of the seven girls I had here today, two of them were in a match play situation two years ago, but only one of them did any actual bowling. For all of my girls except one, bowling in a match play situation was new. They had to learn how to make pressure shots, and they haven’t had to make pressure shots like that before.
“In our first round matchup against Swartz Creek, they were struggling to do that. But then it started to click, and we kind of got through that and we were good.”