Vandercook Lake Rolls to D4 Sweep
March 3, 2017
By Dick Hoekstra
Special for Second Half
LANSING – One was for the first time and the other for a sixth.
But the Vandercook Lake boys and girls bowling teams swept the Division 4 team championships Friday at Royal Scot Lanes.
The Jayhawks boys earned the school’s first MHSAA Finals title by keeping Sandusky from repeating as champion, 1501-1367.
The Vandercook Lake girls team captured its sixth title by keeping St. Louis from claiming its second crown in three years, 1233-1167.
The Jayhawks girls also earned MHSAA titles in 2011, 2013 and 2014 in Division 4 as well as 2009 in Division 3 and 2005 in Class C-D.
“We got a couple breaks where they didn’t in the Baker games,” said Vandercook Lake girls bowling coach Todd Reichard, whose team pulled ahead by 69 pins with 177-159 and 188-137 Baker game wins. “Then we just stayed steady with them. We tried to fill frames. It was two good teams. We just got lucky in the Bakers.”
Senior captain Ariel Robinson rolled a 211 and sophomore Mackenzie Johnson a 202 in the Final for the Jayhawks, who were seeded No. 1 after qualifying and defeated No. 8 Dryden and then No. 5 Rogers City 1239-1166 to reach the championship match.
“These young ladies just refuse to lose,” Reichard said. “I lost four seniors last year. I knew I had a lot of work with a new group this year. This is number six for me, and I tried to do it with depth, because I didn’t have a superstar. Mackenzie (sophomore and individual Regional champion Mackenzie Johnson) might be my best bowler, but everybody chipped in today. I’m still amazed how we got here.”
St. Louis emerged as the No. 2 seed after morning qualifying before defeating No. 7 seed Traverse City Christian and then No. 3 seed Schoolcraft.
The Sharks actually edged Vandercook Lake 871-868 in pins over the Peterson games as senior Emily Thelen threw a 231.
“We just had a lot of bad breaks with some nasty splits in the Baker games, and that’s what came back and got us,” St. Louis girls bowling coach Brittney Mizer said. “The girls didn’t bowl bad. They should be super proud of how they did. I know I am.”
The No. 2-seeded Sandusky boys after morning qualifying were trying to become the first repeat champion in Division 4, and seemed poised after edging No. 3 seed St. Charles 1356-1343 in a Semifinal that was a rematch of last year’s championship match.
But Vandercook Lake topped No. 4 Rogers City 1324-1127 in the other Semifinal, and then became the eighth new champion in the eight years a Division 4 tournament has been held. (There were only three divisions from 2006-2009 and just two in 2004 and 2005.)
“We bowled really well in the St. Charles match, and it felt like a state final,” Sandusky boys bowling coach Del Shea said. “It was pretty exciting. I’ve been coaching 12 years, and I don’t remember anybody defending. That’s what we were trying to do. We almost got there.”
The Redskins fired a 254 to Vandercook Lake’s 192 in the first Baker game, but the Jayhawks answered with a 290 to Sandusky’s 160 in the second Baker game to take a 68-pin lead.
“We came back, and we were only 20 pins down in the middle of that (Peterson) game,” Shea said. “We almost got it back, but we ran out of steam. Everybody bowled really well, especially our seniors Brandon Hughes, Jared Jagotka, Cody Johnston.”
Vandercook Lake boys bowling coach Libie Ambs said the Jayhawks also had to come from behind in their Semifinal with Rogers City.
“But the match with Sandusky was the toughest,” she said. “Korey Reichard bowled well all day. He shot 257 the last game. All of them bowled well. Everybody at least had one game over deuce (200).”
Ambs’ first year coaching the Jayhawks boys was 2009, when they finished as runners-up in Division 3.
“Last year, we got knocked out in the Semifinals,” she said. “This year they kind of had a mission. Korey kept them pumped after every shot, and kept them going.”
Click for full girls results and boys results.
PHOTO: The Vandercook Lake girls and boys teams stand together after sweeping the Division 4 championships at Lansing’s Royal Scot.
Benzie Central Boys Looking to Add Finals Run to Growing Lanes Legacy
By
Tom Spencer
Special for MHSAA.com
February 21, 2025
Best ever.
All season long, Logan Hewitt, Kameron Johnson, Keaton Hickey, Jeremiah Wilkinson, Tyler Brooks, Lorin McNiel and Jaylan Ewing have performed like the best bowling team in Benzie Central’s history.
Nothing is changing either. Last month, their names were entered into the record book for combining for the highest two-game series score in program history – 1,777 pins – while competing against Traverse City Central, Traverse City West, Cadillac, Traverse City Christian, Frankfort and Glen Lake.
On the same day, the team produced the school-record single team game, 975, and Brooks racked up the highest individual game in Benzie boys history at 277.
Then this week, while winning the Division 4 Regional championship, the Benzie bowlers set a school record with a 243 Baker game and then reset their two-game series record at 1,782.
Now, they’d like to stake claim to the school’s first MHSAA Finals bowling championship when they return to Northway Lanes in the Muskegon – the site of their Regional success – for next Friday’s Final.
“We don’t give up,” said Benzie coach Chip Fryer, now in his 22nd season with the Huskies. “We keep trying right to the end, no matter what, to do our best.”
And their best has been pretty darn good.
“I am not surprised at their records,” Fryer admitted. “I know they are fully capable.”
Good practice games are discussed and analyzed as the Huskies strive for more, Fryer noted.
“I challenge them If they go out and bowl a 170 in practice to try to add 10 or 20 pins on top of that in matches,” Fryer said. “We talk about making a couple more spares here or there or getting a good break and carrying a strike here and there.”
Brooks and Wilkinson also qualified for the Singles Final this year. Hewitt fell one pin short.
Wilkerson had two Regional games over 200 en route to qualifying. Hickey had led the Huskies in the Regional team competition with two games over 200.
Those four Huskies are seniors. In fact, of the 12 bowlers on the varsity and junior varsity squads this year, only two will be back next season. So Benzie is going for broke, with lots of previous Regional and Final experience.
“They know how to get there,” Fryer said. Jeremiah (Wilkinson), Logan (Hewitt) and Tyler (Brooks) were on the team back in 2023 when we won Regionals for the first time in school history. And Jeremiah and Logan were on the first team we ever had qualified for states the year before.”
Brooks did not join the bowling team until his sophomore year. He averaged 145 per game then. Last year he averaged 162 and finished 25th in the Singles Final qualifying block. He is averaging 180 this year and has high aspirations for himself and his team.
“We’ve all put in the time, and I feel like we’re pretty prepared,” Brooks said minutes before a late-season practice. “I like to strive to greatness. I always want to get better.”
Brooks recalls every moment of his school-record 277 game. He was matched up with Traverse City Central’s Carter Banton, who just missed qualifying for match play at last year’s Division 1 Singles Final. Banton and Brooks both entered the seventh frame with a perfect game.
Banton didn’t mark in the seventh, and Brooks picked up a spare before hitting strikes the rest of the way.
“The ball checked up and went a little high and left me a spare, and I made the spare,” Brooks recollected. “Carter is a great bowler, and I just want to bowl the best I could.”
Brooks was one pin from a possible perfect game.
“It was just one little frame,” Brook acknowledged. “The rest were strikes.”
Brooks’s 277 made a huge contribution to the team’s 975 record, as did Hewitt’s 244. McNiel and Hickey both rolled a 153. Wilkinson had a 144. The 975 toppled the previous school record by more than 50 pins.
Johnson rolled a 177 in the second game as the Huskies set the two-game series school record in January, subbing for McNiel. Hewitt was next at 170, Brooks followed at 166, Hickey at 159 and Wilkinson 137.
When the Huskies broke their record at the Regional, Hickey led the way with a 233 and 220. Wilkinson kicked in a 190 and 181. Brooks had a 182 and 176, Hewitt had a 148 and 147, and McNiel and Ewing each bowled one game, scoring 139 and 158, respectively.
Next, the Huskies are planning to place their highest ever at the Team Final.
“The last two times we’ve qualified for states we finished 11th, and they only take the top eight into the bracket,” Frey said. “Missing a seven pin or a 10 pin or a single pin spare costs you the game. We’ re going to hopefully increase their scores just by making those spares.”
Tom Spencer is a longtime MHSAA-registered basketball and soccer official, and former softball and baseball official, and he also has coached in the northern Lower Peninsula area. He previously has written for the Saginaw News, Bay County Sports Page and Midland Daily News. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Benzie bowlers Jayden Ewing, standing, and Logan Hewitt share a fist bump during a recent match. (Middle) Senior Tyler Brooks bowls a frame. (Below) Brooks, right, and teammate Keaton Hickey confer during a break. (Photos by Tom Spencer.)