Salem Boys, Davison Girls Rule Division 1
March 1, 2013
By Greg Chrapek
Special to Second Half
MUSKEGON – Being the best bowling team in the city of Plymouth is saying something.
With two boys bowling teams from Plymouth reaching the elite eight of the MHSAA Division 1 Bowling Final, the city stamped itself as one of the best for bowling in the state. For the Plymouth Salem boys, adding the Division 1 title meant that not only were they the best in Plymouth this year, but the best Division 1 team in all of Michigan.
Salem claimed the Division 1 team title at Northway Lanes by defeating Saginaw Heritage 1,388-1,258 in the championship match. While Salem has reached the MHSAA Finals three of the last five seasons, this year it reached the pinnacle.
“This feels awesome,” Salem coach Kathie Hahn said. “I can’t explain it. I’m so proud of the boys. There are three schools on our ground, and two of them qualified for state, Canton High School and us. To win state was awesome to say the least.”
While Salem won by more than 100 pins in the final match against Heritage, the road was a difficult one. Salem won a dramatic quarterfinal by defeating Roseville 1,356-1,350 in a match that came down to the final frame.
Salem senior Kevin Williams picked up the deciding spare in the 10th frame to give Salem the win and send it on to the semifinals.
“This was very special,” Williams said. “I made it to state as a freshman, but things did not go so well. This year we had a great team and it was a blast. The key for us was keeping our heads up and not getting down on ourselves, and picking up spares.”
After surviving the quarterfinal match, the Wildcats then met Jackson High in the semifinals. Salem started strong and continued to bowl strong all the way through as it defeated the Vikings 1,386-1,172.
Heritage earned its way into the final match by defeating hometown Muskegon Mona Shores 1,292-1,209 in the other semifinal. Salem came out strong against Heritage and built on the lead as the match played out.
“We struggled to pick up spares all day, but in the last few matches we really started to pick them up,” said aptly named Salem senior Jimmy Bowling. “Every one of our bowlers but one shot over 200 in the final game against Heritage. We are a close team, and we are all good friends away from bowling. We are all like a family on this team.”
Steven Cadwell led Salem with a 213 game in the finale while Williams rolled a 207 and Tyler Snyder a 204.
No matter which team won it was going to be a first as neither Salem nor Heritage had won an MHSAA bowling championship before.
“It was kind of an unbelievable day,” Heritage coach Todd Hare said. “We started out bowling really well today. We had good rotations and we came out of qualifying as the number one seed. We just fell a little short in the last match.”
Derrick Norman led Heritage with a 193 in the finale while Tyler Sutt rolled a 192.
While Division 1 had a new boys champion, it saw a repeat champion on the girls side as the Davison bowling powerhouse produced a second consecutive title.
Despite losing five seniors from last year’s squad, the Cardinals re-tooled in hopes of making it back to the Finals.
“At the beginning of the season, not many people expected us to defend our state championship,” Davison coach Albert Torok said. “We lost five seniors from that team, but we had a lot of talent stepping up. We prepared ourselves all year for this. We entered tournament after tournament and progressed day after day, and all that hard work paid off.”
Davison defeated Walled Lake Central 1,347- 1,189 in the title match.
“This is 10 times better then last year,” said Heather Baur, one of three seniors on this year’s team who also were part of last year’s title win. “It’s exciting because the seniors did something that no one else had done. The biggest thing that helped us was just filling frames. Our coach tells us if you fill frames, you win games.”
Davison reached the final match by defeating Sterling Heights Stevenson 1,306- 1,224 in the semifinal and Westland John Glenn 1,256-1,178 in the quarterfinal.
“This feels awesome,” Davison senior Jennifer Phillips said. “It feels so great to win it again. I couldn’t be any more proud of my teammates. Last year after we won it, we knew we wanted to come back and try and win it again.”
Walled Lake Central defeated Macomb Dakota 1,215-1,139 in their semifinal, and Muskegon Mona Shores 1,187-1,144 in the quarter.
Brianna Palarchio rolled a 194 to lead Walled Lake Central in the Final. Sydney Brown rolled a 234 for Davison, and Brooklyn Greene added a 202.
Click for full girls results and full boys results.
Preview: Contenders New and Old
March 5, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
All eight MHSAA bowling champions from 2014 will return for this weekend’s Team Finals on Friday, and four who have won individual titles will compete in Singles Finals on Saturday.
But that hardly means we should expect everything to fall into place as it has in the recent past.
Contenders old and also new abound for this weekend’s tournaments, the 12th since bowling became an MHSAA-sponsored sport in 2004. Read about them below.
All Team Finals are Friday, and Singles Finals are Saturday. Click for the full list of qualifiers, and come back to Second Half all weekend for coverage from all four Finals sites.
Girls Division 1
Team: Davison is rolling on a three-year championship streak and enters the weekend as again a Regional champion – although its 3,376 qualifying score was only third highest in the division as a whole. Macomb Dakota (4,194) and Westland John Glenn (4,141) both broke 4,000 pins and have plenty of experience at this level – John Glenn was runner-up to Davison last season, and Dakota fell to Davison in the Semifinal. Dakota sophomore Tamera Robinson (1,271) won the individual Regional title at Star Lanes in Sterling Heights while three more teammates finished among the top nine; John Glenn placed four among the top eight and three among the top four at Canton’s Super Bowl.
Singles: Last season’s MHSAA Final was a matchup of John Glenn bowlers, and both return – junior Emily Dietz, the champion, was eighth at her Regional with a 1,183, while junior Julia Huren was second at 1,333. Total, nine of last season’s 16 match play finalists will compete again this weekend, but four of the top five Regional qualifying scores were by bowlers not part of that group – Canton sophomore Megan Macunovich (1,345), Brighton freshman Natalie Klein (1,331), Zeeland sophomore Olivia Hoeksema (1,308) and Caledonia freshman Macalin Rodriguez (1,300).
Boys Division 1
Teams: Reigning champion Detroit U-D Jesuit will be back after rolling a 3,705 to finish second at its Regional at Woodhaven Lanes. But 12 qualifiers broke 4,000 pins, with Saginaw Heritage (4,325) and Canton (4,231) topping the list. Heritage went on to place four individual qualifiers among the top 10 of that competition, led by senior Derrick Norman; his 1,569 easily was the highest Regional score in any division. Reigning runner-up Grand Haven and semifinalist Oxford both also made the field, although both finished as Regional runners-up last weekend.
Singles: Norman made the quarterfinals last season, and he’ll be joined in the field this weekend by Grand Haven sophomore Jimmy Mitchell, a semifinalist in 2014. Clarkston junior Jacob Kersten, Hudsonville senior Travis Schreer and Macomb Dakota senior Justin Taylor also are back after making last winter’s match play, Kersten as a Regional champion last weekend. Flint Carman-Ainsworth junior Jordan Nunn would’ve been at any other Regional, with his 1,400 placing second to Norman at Lansing’s Royal Scot.
Girls Division 2
Team: This follows a similar theme as Division 1, with reigning champion Flint Kearsley seeking its third championship in four seasons and entering as a Regional winner – although with only the sixth-best score from last weekend. Warren Regina (3,645) topped the list, with Grand Rapids Northview (3,591), Charlotte (3,517), Bay City Western (3,517) and Tecumseh (3,492) also joining Kearsley (3,490) as winners. Western, last season’s Finals runners-up, then placed four among the top five in the singles standings with co-champs in juniors Alexia Richard and Storm Butler.
Singles: Kearsley returns two of last year’s 16 match-place qualifiers including semifinalist Hannah Ploof, a junior, who won her Regional rolling 1,140. Regina sophomore Madchen Breen will return for her second Finals after rolling the highest Regional score in any division – 1,267 – with Coldwater senior Patricia Neely posting the second-highest in Division 2 at 1,182. Kearsley senior Dani Doolan, Charlotte junior Malorie Kiplinger and West Branch Ogeamw Heights senior Riley Griffin also are among qualifiers who made Finals match play in 2014.
Boys Division 2
Team: Ortonville Brandon was the lone qualifier to break 4,000 pins at a Division 2 Regional, its 4,403 more than 70 pins better than anyone else in the division after it made match play but fell to eventual champion Kearsley in the Quarterfinals last season. Kearsley also won a Regional title last weekend at 3,971, the second-highest score in Division 2, and with junior Chad Stephen and senior Anthony Kelley making the Singles Finals.
Singles: Stephen and Trenton senior David Owens were quarterfinalists last year, and they’ll be joined in the field by four more 2014 match play qualifiers: Kelley, Marysville senior Tyler Fields, Parma Western senior Andrew Mulliken and Jackson Northwest senior Brian Lewis. Fields rolled a division-best 1,388 to win his Regional at Westland’s Oak Lanes, while Bay City Western junior Dylan Brown rolled a 1,355 to win at Monitor Lanes in Bay City and come in with the division’s second-highest singles pinfall.
Girls Division 3
Team: Ishpeming is storming back into the Finals after making its first championship match and finishing runner-up to Croswell-Lexington last season. The Hematites had a Division 3-best Regional score of 3,410, with Jonesville next-highest winning at 3,385 at Monroe’s Nortel Lanes. Three of Ishpeming’s five bowlers from last season’s run are back and also made the Singles Finals – seniors Kaylee O’Connor and Kassy Harsila and junior Kassey Kytola.
Singles: Corunna junior Hannah Eldridge finished first in the 2014 qualifying block and made the Semifinal, and she’ll return this weekend after qualifying 10th at her Regional. Croswell-Lexington senior Katie LaPorte and Standish-Sterling junior Dayna Schmidt also will be back from last season’s match play, Schmidt as a Regional champion last weekend. Dundee sophomore Breanna Johnson (1,155) and Leslie senior Tiffany Hills (1,117) were the high scorers at Regionals for this division; neither made the Finals a year ago.
Boys Division 3
Team: Fremont is the reigning champion and has won two of the last three seasons, but will have some heavy competition after qualifying second from its Regional. Jackson Lumen Christi (3,937) and Armada (3,909) both won Regionals to pace Division 3 after both falling in last season’s Quarterfinals. The favorites will be keyed by standouts; Fremont is led again by senior Sam Brandt, last season’s high roller for his team in the Team Final and then Singles Final champion. Lumen Christi has a collection of strong seniors including Zach Ulicny, the reigning Singles Final runner-up. Reigning Division 4 champion Jonesville qualified third behind Lumen Christi and Flat Rock at Nortel Lanes.
Singles: Last season’s finalists will be joined this weekend by four more who made the 2014 match play: Essexville-Garber senior Chase Badalamenti, a returning semifinalist, plus Portland junior Marcus Zinn, Wyoming Godwin Heights junior Zac Vos and Lumen Christi senior Matt Nicoson. Cheboygan senior Matt Duffiney won his Regional by nearly 150 pins with a division-best 1,331, and Romulus Summit Academy freshman Ryan Wright burst on the scene with a 1,275 to win his tournament.
Girls Division 4
Team: Vandercook Lake, Sandusky and Rogers City have dominated Division 4 since its creation in 2010, with Vandercook Lake the two-time reigning champion and owner of four MHSAA titles total. But the Jaykawks posted only the second-highest Regional score (3,538), with St. Louis rolling a 3,545 to edge Ithaca by a mere eight pins at Mount Pleasant’s Riverwood Resort. Rogers City (3,483) again was a Regional champion after finishing Finals runner-up a year ago, and Burton Bendle (3,409) also broke 3,400 to win its Regional by nearly 400 pins.
Singles: Although all four of last season’s semifinalists graduated, seven match play qualifiers are again in the field. Sandusky senior Keri Malloy, Unionville-Sebewaing senior Kyleigh McCarthy and Rogers City junior Rebecca Bannasch and junior Alana Wirgau all bowled in the quarterfinals last season, while Hanover-Horton junior Emma Davis, St. Ignace senior Sharman Colegrove and Oscoda senior Paige Huebel also made the Round of 16. Clinton junior Miranda Porath and Sandusky junior Leslie Williams made the Finals but missed match play in 2014, but they’re back with the top Regional scores in the division of 1,143 and 1,121, respectively.
Boys Division 4
Team: Three teams broke 3,900 to win Regional titles – Sandusky (4,057), St. Charles (3,988) and Hanover-Horton (3,923). St. Charles, winner of the first Division 4 title in 2009, is led by sophomore Kyle Tuttle, last season’s Singles Final champion. Reigning team champion Jonesville is in Division 3 this season and runner-up Ithaca didn’t qualify, but Sandusky was a semifinalist a year ago and also had three make the Singles Finals led by junior Brett Hancock.
Singles: This session of the entire weekend might have the most returning star power. Joining Tuttle are Rogers City junior Bailey Budnik, the 2013 Singles champ, and St. Louis senior Zach Fenby, last winter’s runner-up. Riverview Gabriel Richard junior Austin Kraemer made the semifinals last season and won his Regional last weekend with a division-best 1,372. Hanover-Horton senior Alex Wyckoff, Kalamazoo Hackett senior Zack Isaacs, Galesburg-Augusta senior Joshua Wayne and St. Louis senior Jeffrey Fisher also are back from last season’s match play. Pewamo-Westphalia senior Chase Thelen didn’t make last season’s Finals – but did break 1,300 as well last weekend to win his Regional.
PHOTO: Rogers City’s Bailey Budnik was the Division 4 Singles champion in 2013 and returns as a contender this weekend.