Title IX at 50: Jaeger's 2004 Winter Run Created Lasting Connection
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
February 15, 2022
“Just like sports, life will not always result in triumph. We must learn from these losses. Thus sports have provided the fundamentals and experiences for how to deal with life. In the end it's not how much you have won or lost but the journey you took and the people you met along the way.”
Every February, the announcement of the MHSAA/Farm Bureau Insurance Scholar-Athlete Award winners include brief bios of the honorees and excerpts from essays they’ve written on sportsmanship.
The above passage was pulled from the essay written by 2004 Livonia Ladywood senior Sarah Jaeger, as she became the first from her sport to receive one of these prestigious awards. Less than a month later, she’d also become one of her sport's first MHSAA champions.
The Class B Bowling Finals championship she won March 5, 2004 – capping the singles portion of the first bowling season in MHSAA history – remains something that resonates with the now-mother of two small children and 13-year veteran of TV news along the I-75 corridor.
“It was just kind of a culmination of those four years,” Jaeger, now Sarah Dorow, recalled Tuesday. “From going to Ladywood and Dad starting the team from literally nothing my freshman year to seeing the sport officially a sport my senior year.
“Honestly,” she added, “I don’t think there could have been a better ending to the season and my high school bowling career.”
That 2003-04 season was the first for bowling as an MHSAA-sponsored sport, and Jaeger became one of its first state champions representing the program her father Dennis had started and her mother Judy took over after his death in 2001.
After qualifying 12th of 16 for Class B singles match play at Sterling Heights’ Sunnybrook Lanes, Sarah torched the bracket with four match wins, taking the decider against Montrose’s Anna Haggerty 231-183, 192-208, 264-244.
But her MHSAA Finals experience that winter wasn’t done just yet. Jaeger would be recognized with 26 other Scholar-Athlete Award winners on the Breslin Center floor during the Boys Basketball Finals later that March.
She went on to earn bachelor’s degrees in communications and criminal justice at University of Detroit Mercy, and then earned a master’s at Michigan State University in journalism and another master’s from Mercy in intelligence analysis. She also bowled on the Spartans’ club team during her time in East Lansing – and made time to stay in high school bowling as well.
Judy Jaeger continued to coach the Ladywood bowling program for a number of years, and Sarah assisted the Blazers from 2005-16. Judy also continues to serve as a tournament manager annually for one of the four MHSAA Finals sites, and Sarah has provided major assists at those events as well.
Near the end of her masters’ studies, Dorow began 13 years in TV news as an anchor, reporter and producer, most recently at multiple stations in the Saginaw/Flint/Bay City/Midland market before stepping aside from the camera to be home with her two children ages 6 and 3. But her stories continue – she blogs at “The TV Mommy” and “Mid-Michigan Moms” – and she can still bowl with the best of them.
She’s set to compete in the Michigan Women’s State Championship this weekend in Muskegon, and recently she shot a personal-record 777 series. She took a brief break while her kids were younger, but is back up to bowling in one league a week and one tournament a month. Her 6-year-old son has started bowling as well, and she likes to say he’s already rolled a 300 – because she did so when she was pregnant with him.
Judy Jaeger will be managing this season’s Division 2 Finals, and Sarah will try to make it over to Super Bowl in Canton. She brought her son to the 2019 Finals and they crowned that year’s champions together. That part is among the experiences she always enjoys, something of a handing down from a past champion to the next.
“It’s something I’ll definitely never forget,” Dorow said of her 2004 title run. “It’s stayed with me.”
Second Half's weekly Title IX Celebration posts are sponsored by Michigan Army National Guard.
Previous Title IX at 50 Spotlights
Feb. 8: Marian's Cicerone to Finish Among All-Time Elite - Read
Feb. 1: WISL Award Honors Builders of State's Girls Sports Tradition - Read
Jan. 25: Decades Later, Edwards' Legend Continues to Grow - Read
Jan. 18: Iron Mountain Completes Championship Climb - Read
Jan. 11: Harrold's Achievement Heralds Growth of Girls Wrestling - Read
Dec. 20: Competitive Cheer Gives Michigan Plenty to Cheer About - Read
Dec. 14: Evelyn's Game Had Plenty of Magic - Read
Dec. 7: Council Term Ends, But Leinaar Leaves Lasting Impact - Read
Nov. 30: Basketball Season Ready to Add to Rich Tradition - Read
Nov. 23: Marysville Builds Winning Streak Yet to be Challenged - Read
Nov. 16: Wroubel Has Championed Girls School Sports from Their Start - Read
Nov. 9: Pioneer's Joyce Legendary in Michigan, National Swim History - Read
Nov. 2: Royal Oak's Finch Leading Way on Football Field - Read
Oct. 26: Coach Clegg Sets Championship Standard at Grand Blanc - Read
Oct. 19: Rockford Girls Set Pace, Hundreds After Have Continued to Chase - Read
Oct. 12: Bedford Volleyball Pioneer Continues Blazing Record-Setting Trail - Read
Oct. 5: Warner Paved Way to Legend Status with Record Rounds - Read
Sept. 28: Taylor Kennedy Gymnasts Earn Fame as 1st Champions - Read
Sept. 21: Portage Northern Star Byington Becomes Play-by-Play Pioneer - Read
Sept. 14: Guerra/Groat Legacy Continues to Serve St. Philip Well - Read
Sept. 7: Best-Ever Conversation Must Include Leland's Glass - Read
Aug. 31: We Will Celebrate Many Who Paved the Way - Read
PHOTOS (Top left) Sarah Jaeger and her mother and coach Judy Jaeger celebrate Sarah's 2004 Class B bowling championship. (Top right) Jaeger today is a mother of two, veteran TV reporter, writer, and recently bowled her personal-high series. (2004 photo courtesy of Sarah Dorow; current photo by Amanda Shaffer Photography.)
Churchill Pair Approaches Perfection, Aspires Toward Championship Contention
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
February 6, 2026
LIVONIA — Sophia Best said it was something she had never been a part of before. Madison Martin called it “mind-blowing.”
During a doubles bowling tournament hosted by Livonia Clarenceville on Jan. 24 at Westland Bowl, Best and Madison, who are both seniors for Livonia Churchill, were certainly in the “zone.”
In a Baker format, Best and Madison just kept striking, striking and striking as excitement built up for anyone witnessing their display.
“It was really high energy,” Best said. “Just feeding off of each other. Once we started and going from strike to strike, it was feeding off of each other and it was really fun, obviously. It was something I’ve never done before. It was really exciting.”
Ultimately, the two ended up with a score of 299 in the first of two games. Best and Martin then produced a 255 in the second game to repeat as doubles champions at the tournament.
But the big show was obviously the 299.
“I thought I would be more nervous than I was,” Martin said. “Last year when we did this tournament, I was very nervous. I just kind of really locked in. I wasn’t as nervous. I just had to breathe and know what I had to do.”
For Churchill assistant coach Jason Proudlock, the performance wasn’t anything too surprising because it was simply par for the course from a tandem that’s done a lot for the program.
Both are four-year varsity bowlers who last year helped guide Churchill to its first Regional title and Finals appearance in Division 1.
This year, Churchill has two tournament wins and two second-place finishes as a team and is eyeing big things later this month; Regionals are scheduled across the state for Feb. 18-21, and Finals are Feb. 27-28.
“To me, that comes down to the leadership from Sophia and Madison helping the younger girls evaluate their games and make the right choices on the lane,” Proudlock said.
Best has qualified individually for the MHSAA Singles Finals each of her first three years in high school, and this year is leading the team with a 201 average.
“To me, the growth is crazy how much we’ve grown,” Best said. “Even from the beginning of the season, it’s great to see all the growth we’ve had.”
Martin has steadily improved since her freshman year and this year has really taken a leap, increasing her average by nearly 10 pins to 178, according to Proudlock.
“This year, I’ve been focusing on keeping a good attitude no matter what happens and setting a routine for myself before I go bowl so I can keep everything the same,” Martin said.
Even though they had good seasons their first three years of high school, Proudlock said the improvement this winter has been evident each time they have bowled.
“Sophia, it’s her knowledge of the game and understanding her transitions,” Proudlock said. “She can read the lanes really well. Madison is more the mental side of it. She’s got more into the game learning from Sophia and taking my recommendations and applying them to her game.”
Of course, a big source of that improvement was the inspiration making the Finals last year provided heading into the summer.
“In the summer, we each practiced a lot individually knowing we were going into this year with really good bowlers,” Martin said. “We wanted to take a lot of tournaments, get to states and go bigger than last year.”
Best has signed to bowl in college for William Penn University in Iowa, while Martin plans on bowling for the club team at Michigan State.
Later this month, both hope to qualify for the Finals individually as a tandem, since Martin hasn’t quite been able to achieve that yet. Last year, she fell 40 pins short of qualifying.
Even if that doesn’t happen, Churchill has a great shot to get back to the Finals as a team with senior tandem not many in the state can boast.
“These two, you can’t replace them,” Proudlock said.
Keith Dunlap has served in Detroit-area sports media for more than two decades, including as a sportswriter at the Oakland Press from 2001-16 primarily covering high school sports but also college and professional teams. His bylines also have appeared in USA Today, the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the Houston Chronicle and the Boston Globe. He served as the administrator for the Oakland Activities Association’s website from 2017-2020. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
(Photo courtesy of the Livonia Churchill girls bowling program.)