Milan Girls Strike Early, Sweep Bracket to Clinch Historic Championship
By
Jeff Bleiler
Special for MHSAA.com
February 27, 2026
JACKSON — An eerie quiet had descended over Jax 60 when Kenleigh Vandergrift stepped onto the approach in the ninth frame.
The sophomore bowler from Milan High School walked toward the foul line, released her ball and broke the silence by yelling, “Yes!” before her ball had touched any pins.
Her ball answered by knocking all 10 pins down, and when senior Maggie Smith followed with two strikes of her own in the 10th frame, the Division 3 Finals trophy was heading east to Milan.
The Big Reds went unbeaten during match play, including a sweep of Ishpeming Westwood in the championship, to claim the school’s first Finals trophy in girls bowling after nearly winning the championship two years ago.
“It means so much,” Smith said. “Me and my girls have been working hard at practices, working on spares and quality shots, and it paid off.”
It was Milan’s day from the start as the Big Reds claimed the top seed after shooting 2,974 for the eight Baker and two regular games and winning nine straight Baker games, all by double figures, to emerge as champions.
Coach Adam Gilles said the team’s biggest hurdle was the Semifinal against Grass Lake — ranked No. 1 by the Michigan High School Interscholastic Bowling Association. The Warriors qualified fourth and beat Madison Heights Bishop Foley in the Quarterfinals in three straight.
Milan won the three games against Grass Lake 152-139, 163-153 and 181-115.
Westwood, meanwhile, qualified sixth with 2,766 and had to grind through two five-game matches against Flat Rock and Armada to reach the championship.
“To go 3-0 and not lose the whole way, that’s really difficult to do,” Gilles said. “Westwood went five games and five games, and that’s a lot of bowling. They get tired. Our girls stayed warm, stayed loose, had fun. You’re just bowling with your friends like we’re at Station 300. Just have a good time, and we’ll win.”
Milan entered the season having lost several bowlers from last year’s team, but Gilles and coach Linda Towler, who is in her fifth year at Milan, knew their goal was to build a team around Smith.
Enter sophomore Brooklyn Hildebrandt and senior Teresa Tomaszewski, who with Vandergrift, Smith, sophomore Ashley Ruetter and junior Savannah Michilak provided a solid foundation.
“When you have an anchor bowler like Maggie, the goal is to try to put the best team around her,” said Gilles, in his third year at Milan. “The new girls, Brooke and Teresa, they listened and they’re coachable, they’re sweet, they want to be part of the team. The girls took to them.”
Two years ago in the Finals, Milan lost a five-game heartbreaker to Madison Heights Bishop Foley. Smith said she carried forward into this season a lesson from that experience.
“I need to not give myself so much pressure,” she said. “We’re a team. We’re all in this together. Breathe through every shot, make my spares, if I get a split, get pin count.”
Westwood finished runner-up three years ago to Flint Powers Catholic. Coach Barrie Rae, in his 16th season, said he was proud of his team, which loses seniors Averie Vial, Olivia Letson and Isabelle Moebius but returns juniors Fara Bjork, Hailey Smail and Julianne Yohe.
“They started out a little slow, they knew it and they picked it up when they needed to,” Rae said. “When it came to match play, they did what they had to do. They bowled as a team. When one girl was bowling bad, the other four picked her up and that happened all day long.”
Smith and Vandergrift both qualified for the Singles tournament with Smith, who has committed to Spring Arbor University for next year and will be returning after finishing second last year and reaching the Quarterfinals two years ago.
“My goal is to make it to match play and whatever happens, happens,” Smith said. “I’ll always learn. If I lose, if I win, I always look at something to learn and build off that.”
Sisk Prevails in Dramatic Finish, VanDuinen Ends On Championship Note
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
March 5, 2022
CANTON – All Zack Sisk needed was a chance, even as slim as it appeared at the time.
Facing 2021 Division 2 singles champion Kyle Pranger of Grand Rapids Northview in the championship match Saturday at Super Bowl, Sisk – a junior at Gibraltar Carlson – saw Pranger leave a split of five pins in his second-to-last ball of the 10th frame.
Pranger knocked down one more. And that left Sisk an opportunity – if he could throw three strikes in his 10th frame to force a roll-off.
“I was ready to pass out,” Sisk said. “I’m not going to lie.”
You wouldn’t have known Sisk was facing such enormous pressure, because he rolled three strikes in a row to tie Pranger at 409 and force a roll-off where each bowler essentially redid the ninth and 10th frames.
After each bowled a strike in the new ninth frame, Sisk stayed hot and bowled three straight again in the 10th frame of the roll-off to make it seven in a row.
Pranger answered by bowling two strikes, but left one pin on his third ball of the frame, and Sisk began celebrating the first singles title in the six-year history of Carlson’s program.
“When he got the one, I was just like ‘All right, I’ve got to go up there and throw as many good shots as possible,’” Sisk said. “Obviously I did.”
Tom Sisk, Zack’s Dad and the program’s co-coach along with his wife and Zack’s mother, Kim, said he felt bad that Pranger couldn’t get the tying strike because he threw a great ball.
But Tom Sisk obviously was overjoyed with pride over what his son achieved.
“(Pranger) is such a good bowler,” Tom Sisk said. “When he got that one, we went ‘Oh my gosh, (Zack) has got a chance.’ He had to throw three. Fantastic, and you couldn’t have asked for anything better. He handled the pressure very well.”
In the girls event, Whitehall senior Karli VanDuinen finished off a fine career by claiming the singles title, defeating Wayland senior Bella Harnish in the final 460-381.
VanDuinen advanced to the quarterfinal round last year, used that experience to her benefit in her last MHSAA Tournament.
“It feels good,” said VanDuinen, who will continue bowling at Arkansas State. “I’ve been wanting it since my freshman year. But I’ve been working hard in general for college. To finally be able to win it was a nice send-off.”
Seeded No. 3 after the qualifying block, VanDuinen defeated Chloe Fish of Cedar Springs in the round of 16, 409-310, before squeaking out a one-pin win (357-356) over Livonia Clarenceville freshman Caitlyn Johnson in a quarterfinal.
VanDuinen then downed another Wayland bowler, junior Kadence Bottrall, in a semifinal by a score of 441-385.
“During the qualifying, we thought her throws were looking pretty good,” Whitehall coach Tyson Jasperse said. “She looked comfortable out here. She was reading the lanes really well, and she seemed pretty confident.”
Pranger, who helped lead Northview to the team title Friday, was seeded No. 1 out of the qualifying block Saturday.
Sisk was seeded sixth, starting his journey to the title by defeating Brad Spalsbury of Eastpointe 447-436 in the round of 16.
Sisk then got past Jackson Northwest freshman Logan Jahr in a quarterfinal, 473-423, before edging Owen Williams of Tecumseh in a semifinal by just two pins, 463-461.
PHOTOS (Top) Gibraltar Carlson’s Zack Sisk and Whitehall’s Karli VanDuinen earned Division 2 singles championships Saturday at Canton’s Super Bowl. (Middle) Sisk celebrates his roll-off victory. (Click for more from Champions Photography.)