Strong Finish, Bright Beginning in D4
March 1, 2014
By Andrew Frushour
Second Half
BATTLE CREEK – Sandusky senior Melissa Sleda has faced Vandercook Lake’s Malloree Ambs with championships on the line a number of times over the last four seasons.
Most recently, Ambs came out on top – including beating Sleda in a Singles Quarterfinal a year ago on the way to winning the individual title.
Sleda earned one more chance against her standout opponent during Saturday’s MHSAA Final – and took the lead role in their final chapter.
She finished a tough run through Saturday’s match play at M-66 Bowl by defeating Ambs in the two-game championship match 384-317. St. Charles freshman Kyle Tuttle claimed the boys title.
“Going from last year, I tried to put the past behind me. I thought about the present, just focused on every single ball, made sure I had my timing, hit my mark and everything felt good,” Sleda said. “Strikes just come if I hit my mark.”
After qualifying sixth Saturday morning, Sleda rolled a 245 during her Round of 16 win. She then eliminated 2013 singles runner-up Paige Huebel of Oscoda, 396-288, in the Quarterfinal before edging Ambs’ teammate Jessica Bunch 378-356 in the Semifinal.
The opportunity to face Bunch and Ambs was a tad bittersweet for Sleda – Sandusky had faced Vandercook Lake in the Team Finals championship match the last three seasons, but didn’t advance to the title match Friday as Vandercook Lake went on to repeat as champion.
The Singles Final was her chance to finish on a positive note.
“The first match I bowled the 245, and everything felt right,” Sleda said. “The fifth frame of the second game, I was just like ‘Wow. This might be the year, finally.’ I just kept thinking this is my year, you’re a senior, go out with a bang.”
Tuttle, meanwhile, hopes to have three more Finals in his future after giving Division 4 its second straight freshman singles champion. He followed Rogers City’s Bailey Budnik, last season’s winner, who Tuttle beat 420-326 in Saturday's Quarterfinal.
Tuttle qualified first during the morning, but just edged Lakeview’s Joey Cole 337-311 in the Round of 16 match play. After the Budnik match, Tuttle survived Budnik’s teammate Alex Darga 359-350 – after not being able to watch Darga’s 10th frame. Tuttle's future wasn't decided until Darga's final shot
“It must’ve been meant to be after that. I just got up and bowled,” Tuttle said.
He came back to beat Tri-Valley Conference West foe Zach Fenby of St. Louis 406-325 in the championship match thanks to four strikes over the final three frames of the first game and a string of five straight strikes during the second.
“The first two matches I was so nervous,” Tuttle said. “The third one, the last one, I was as calm as I’d been all day.”
Click for complete girls results and complete boys results.
PHOTOS: The MHSAA Division 4 Finals girls and boys medalists.
D2 Singles Champs Stand a Cut Above
March 4, 2017
By Tim Robinson
Special for Second Half
CANTON — Three years ago, Angela Meadows was a freshman, determined to prove she belonged on a high school bowling team.
“The story is, her coach cut her,” Taylor Kennedy coach Dan Dutcher said. “Silly coach, right? That was me.”
“We joke about it now,” Meadows said. “No more hard feelings.”
Saturday, she made her point abundantly, and gloriously, clear.
Meadows won the Division 2 girls individual championship at Super Bowl in Canton, defeating Michaellia Merlo of Pontiac Notre Dame Prep 421-280 in the championship match.
Meadows said she never thought about when she clinched the match until the end, because her mind was elsewhere.
“I wasn’t thinking about it at all,” she said. “(Merlo) was so nice, and I was just having fun.”
It was a marked change of perspective for Meadows, who admits to a streak of pessimism.
“I was not pleased at all with my season,” she said. “As an individual, I did really bad until the state championship.
“I kept a positive attitude (Saturday),” she said, “and somehow proved myself wrong.”
After making the final round as the No. 9 seed, Meadows won her first match over No. 8 seed Madison Burdick of Charlotte and got a surge of confidence.
“I couldn’t believe I beat the first girl,” she said. “She was so good. After the first round, I realized I was going to win this thing.”
Meadows squeaked past Imari Blond of Flint Kearsley, 407-403, in the Quarterfinals, then slipped past Kaylee Collier of Jackson, 347-329, to reach the Final.
After she had been cut from the team as a freshman, “I was devastated,” Meadows said. “I was motivated and wanted to prove him wrong.”
Dutcher couldn’t have been happier.
“It was a perfect day,” he said. “A peak day and a perfect day for her. I wouldn’t say it was expected, but she expected that she would advance far. She had a very consistent day overall. Not too high or too low.”
That wasn’t the case afterward.
“I thought I was dreaming,” she said, laughing, about the award ceremony. ‘I still don’t think it’s real.”
In the boys competition, David Norhouse of Byron Center defeated reigning champion Austin Robison of Sturgis 458-413 in the Final. Robison won the first game 254-226, then slumped in the second game, which Norhouse won 232-149.
“Austin ended with seven or eight strikes in a row,” Byron Center coach Walt Dyer said of the first game. “David had five in a row to stay close, and got a good string going to pull away in the second game. It was very exciting.”
It was a rematch from last year, when Robison beat Norhouse in the first round en route to winning the Division 2 title.
“It came down to the ninth frame, and it was a great match,” Dyer said. “David had talked about it earlier, and said, ‘I can’t let him beat me again this year.’ And it came to fruition.”
Norhouse was the No. 3 seed Saturday. He got past Tecumseh’s Tavon Hastings in the first round, 403-392, then breezed past Nick Dimitri of South Lyon and Liam Robinson of Marquette in the Semifinals.
It was Norhouse’s fourth trip to the Singles Finals and his third trip into match play. Two years ago, as a sophomore, he finished the qualifying block first overall, only to lose to the No. 16 seed.
Robison, the No. 4 seed, got past Jacob Harvey of Adrian by 20 pins in the first round, beat Wyatt Mains of Three Rivers by 35 in the Quarterfinals and rallied to beat South Lyon’s Ryan Zaharia in the Semifinals.
Click for full girls results and full boys results.
PHOTO: Taylor Kennedy’s Angela Meadows (middle) stands with coaches Dan Dutcher and Dorene Bird.