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.”

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