Gobles' Brunner Repeats as D4 Champ, Lumen's Kremer Begins Reign
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
March 5, 2022
BATTLE CREEK – Gobles junior Morgan Brunner admitted she had some nerves entering Saturday’s Division 4 Singles Finals at M-66 Bowl, and really all season. The expectation after winning last year’s championship had followed her.
But Brunner justified all the anticipation, entering match play as the fourth seed and repeating as the Division 4 girls champion with a 408-380 win over Bronson senior Idalia Hernandez in the final.
Jackson Lumen Christi junior Jackson Kremer also earned the opportunity to know life as a reigning champion. He entered match play as the third seed, started strong and then sweated through a cool streak before finding his stroke again in defeating Grass Lake senior Clayton Weir 441-398 in their title match.
“I got into match play, and I usually get a little more competitive in match play,” said Brunner, who became just the third repeat girls champion in 19 seasons of MHSAA Bowling Finals. “I definitely missed some spares that could’ve helped me, but I just tried to stay in a good mood and a good attitude and keep doing what I was doing.
“I went through a lot of ball changes in match play, and found one after they re-oiled that was good. (But) just having a good attitude really helped me with shot making.”
Brunner had rolled games of 223 and 212 during qualifying to earn that fourth seed, one behind Hernandez, who broke 200 three times during qualifying with a high of 230. Allen Park Cabrini junior Jordan Downham was first in qualifying, and Maple City Glen Lake junior Chloe Crick was second.
Brunner opened match play with a 216 and added a 213 and 224 in her next two wins. Hernandez won the first regular game of the final 220-198, but Brunner’s 210-160 advantage in the rematch sealed the repeat.
She joined Tecumseh’s Jordan Richard (2012-13) and Vandercook Lake’s MacKenzie Johnson (2018-19) as back-to-back Finals winners.
Kremer opened qualifying with a 278 and added a 224 in his fifth game to move on to match play as the third seed, while Weir rolled games of 227 and 223 on the way to advancing as the No. 4. Kremer opened match play with games of 228 and 208 to earn his way to the quarterfinals, then skated through a 341-317 victory and a 379-334 win in the semifinal as Weir rolled 432, 432 and 488 on the other side of the bracket.
But Kremer found his shot just in time, rolling 212 and 229 to edge Weir’s twin 199s in the title decider.
Kremer had reached the match play at the 2021 Final, but said he didn’t hit the lanes over the summer and had just picked up practicing again during the school year. He caught back up quickly – even if he didn’t give his skills enough credit in the moments after Saturday’s memorable win.
“Mainly just getting lucky strikes and lucky spares too – that really helped me keep going,” Kremer said. “I don’t really know.
“I thought I was going to be tired (Saturday) because of how early and how far we had to drive to get here. After that first game when I shot a 278, I thought, ‘Oh, that’s going to be good.” And then my next two games were 170s, and then I woke up and found it again.”
PHOTOS (Top) Gobles' Morgan Brunner unloads a shot during Saturday's Division 4 Singles Finals at M-66 Bowl. (Middle) Lumen Christi's Jackson Kremer attempts to pick up a spare. (Click for more from Champions Photography.)
From JV as Junior to Finals Champ, Patrick Caps Improbable Rise with Dream Finish
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
February 28, 2026
WATERFORD — Under normal circumstances, this would have been the most pressure-packed shot in the life of St. Clair Shores Lake Shore senior bowler Devin Patrick – and also maybe the most pressure-filled shot any bowler has faced this season.
The only thing was that Patrick had no idea the magnitude of it, even if everyone else watching with bated breath did.
Mired in the Division 2 singles championship match against New Boston Huron junior Hunter Wyszynksi, Patrick in the 10th frame needed a mark and then four pins to win the title after Wyszynski finished his day with three strikes and a spare over the ninth and 10th frames.
With the whole building watching after the girls final ended just moments before Patrick started his 10th frame, mouths dropped and gasps were heard after Patrick’s first ball, which knocked down just seven pins and left a tricky spare that saw the 10, 6, and 9 pins still standing.
The scenario was simple: Pick up the spare, or finish second to Wyszynski.
Patrick stepped up and got the spare, drawing more oohs and ahs from the crowd. He then delivered a strike to prevail by seven pins over Wyszynski and wrap up the title, although he had no clue that was the case.
Patrick had a 252-220 lead after the first game, and ended up with a 210 in the second game after Wyszynski bowled a 235.
“I thought I already lost it,” Patrick said. “I didn’t know I needed to make that spare. I just made it. I had no idea. Then I remembered I was up by (32) pins from the last game. When everyone congratulated me (on the spare after the match ended), I was like, ‘Wait a minute, was that big?’”
Lake Shore boys bowling coach Jim DeLong said he knew exactly what Patrick needed to win going into 10th frame, but by design didn’t tell him.
“I do the math in my head all the time, but I didn’t want him to know nothing,” DeLong said. “I wanted him to just be loose and hit a good shot. He had enough pressure on him, instead of ‘I have to make this. I have to make this.’ He stayed pretty calm all day. We were working on his breathing and just keeping him in the moment without getting ahead of himself.”
The story gets even better on a couple of fronts. One, Patrick said he had a dream about winning the state championship the night before.
“I dreamt of it the night before when I went to sleep,” he said. “I dreamt about winning it in the exact same way. Not the exact same spare, but the same way.”
Not only that, but this was Patrick’s only full year on varsity after bowling primarily on the JV team his first three years of high school.
“It’s my only (full) year on varsity, it was my last year of high school bowling, I made it to states and won it,” he said. “It’s a Hollywood story. I was on JV for three years.”
Seeded No. 14 out of the qualifying block, Patrick beat Flint Kearsley junior Chase Parr by five pins in the round of 16, Adrian junior Aiden Voelkle in the quarterfinals and Bay City John Glenn senior Cody Minor in the semifinals by 10 pins.
Until the final, Wyszynski was the top bowler all day, starting when he finished as the top seed out of the qualifying block.
Wyszynski beat Portland freshman Wyatt Spear in the round of 16 and the Macomb County champion, Warren De La Salle Collegiate senior Jacob Fester, in the quarterfinals to set up a highly-anticipated semifinal matchup with Kearsley senior Jameson Vanier.
Vanier has been the anchor bowler for Kearsley over the last three years and is a Mr. Bowling Award candidate, but Wyszynski earned a 514-357 win.
Wyszynski bowled well in the final, but just simply fell victim to tremendous shot-making by Patrick.
“I was able to force him to mark,” he said. “I hit some good shots and some unfortunate breaks for me. But it felt good to be able to force him to mark in the 10th frame.