Thank You from Second Half
January 25, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Next week will mark the one-year birthday of Second Half, our place to tell your high school sports stories.
And I thank you for helping us to such a great start.
We knew what we hoped to accomplish starting this site a year ago, but we've learned quite a bit during a relatively short time. Although we continue to pursue the mission of being home of the state’s best high school stories and a daily stop for fans, we’ll continue to experiment to figure out what you'd most like to see and how best we can continue to pass along the great things happening in MHSAA athletics.
A few things to call to your attention as we move ahead:
- First and foremost, we strive to tell your stories – hoping to hit every sport and all regions of our state – and have some intriguing ones coming up as we get into the second half of the winter season. Stay tuned.
- Second Half is the home for the “Battle of the Fans II.” We have visits to Buchanan and Vandercook Lake next week, followed by Ann Arbor Gabriel Richard and Zeeland East the week after. We’ll announce the winner Feb. 22. All will be found here first.
- We've revamped our video page (see menu across the top of this screen) and will be adding more videos more regularly in the year to come.
- After a brief hiatus, we’ll next week bring back “High 5s” featuring two athletes and a team that have done great things this season.
- What you’re reading now is the first of a weekly “First Pitch” blog that will allow us to post more of the quick hits we run across in our regular travels. Make sure to continue checking out the twice-weekly blog by Executive Director Jack Roberts, as well as the Viewpoints and SAC Sound-Offs supplied regularly by our friends from the Michigan State University Institute for the Study of Youth Sports and the members of our Student Advisory Council, respectively.
- We began providing in-depth statewide coverage – both previewing and then postgame reporting – of our Finals in every sport this fall, and hope to become your first and fastest source for the stories behind our championships.
We’re always looking for ideas both for stories or any other features you’d like to see – and feel free to send them directly to me at [email protected].
And again, thank you again for coming to our site today. We look forward to seeing you more in the year to come.
Team of the Month: Taylor Trillium Academy Girls Bowling
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
February 16, 2023
Coach Joseph Slaven started Taylor Trillium Academy’s bowling program seven years ago in part because his children hoped to represent their school on the lanes, plus he’s a bowler, and as a longtime coach in various sports he is glad to pass on what he knows. It’s become an opportunity for them and their classmates to compete, but also to learn a lifelong sport and add to their already well-rounded résumés as they prepare for life after high school.
It’s become quite a history-making endeavor as well – and his Wildcats girls team is in the midst of a multi-season surge that may be just the start.
Taylor Trillium’s girls bowling team – the MHSAA/Applebee’s “Team of the Month” for January – finished an undefeated run through the Independent Bowling League on Wednesday, and will enter its Feb. 24 Team Regional seeking to make the Division 4 Finals for the second-straight season after the Wildcats made their championship debut as a full team a year ago.
Trillium will enter postseason competition having also prepped against several much larger opponents, with January also highlighted by a championship at Trenton’s 16th Annual Bowl for Burns tournament on Jan. 28. The Wildcats defeated Division 1 Taylor in the final of that all-Baker event, and Trillium this season also has finished second at the Detroit Mercy Tournament, fourth at the Livonia Clarenceville Tournament and fifth at the Dearborn Divine Child Tournament – all won by Division 1 teams.
“Everybody is improving just by leaps and bounds. In one year, it’s just amazing to see how they’ve grown as people … it’s a lot of fun, and we’re really enjoying it,” Slaven said. “The biggest key is they are very coachable. To be able to teach them and explain at the same time, the combination of those two is very welcoming as a coach – and that’s what I’m working with.”
Bowling got its start at the school in 2016-17 when Slaven’s son Connor was a sophomore. Students had shown interest in the past, and Joseph Slaven gave it life by taking on building the program – which began with six girls and two boys at the first tryout. As a junior a year later, Connor became the school’s first athlete in any sport to reach the MHSAA Finals, in Division 4 singles, and he qualified for singles competition again as a senior – this time as he and his dad were joined by the rest of the Wildcats as boys bowling became the first team in school history to qualify for a Finals as well. Additionally that season, Kalyn Browne became the school’s first female athlete to reach a Finals in any sport.
Joseph Slaven switched to coaching the girls team in 2020-21 with his daughter Abbey a freshman (trading places with current boys coach Jason Caperton). She reached the Division 4 Singles Final as a freshman and again last season, advancing to the match play as a sophomore. She also was joined in last year’s singles championship competition by then-senior teammate Haylee Irvin-Byford – and by all of the Wildcats the day before as they reached the Team Final for the first time.
That momentum has continued rolling this winter.
Joseph Slaven has 11 bowlers total on the girls team this season, and most are multi-sport athletes also competing in volleyball, golf, cross country and softball. Together, they all carry grade-point averages of 3.0 or higher, with the team average pushing toward 3.7, on top of National Honor Society activities and service hours that go along with it.
“They make it fun, and everyone is really inviting – the girls are rooting for each other, watching each other grow,” Slaven said. “But at the same time, it’s competitive.”
Slaven tells them to “practice how you play,” and he makes all of it count. He tracks every game including from practices in his bowlers’ averages, and on match days the current top five for the season make the starting lineup.
Those five heading into Wednesday were Abbey Slaven (176 average), Emily Yagley (157), Sara Brunell (143), Alivia Schmer (132) and Arianna Lask (131), followed by Mackenzie Peplinski and Sara Boiler as the lineup that will go on to next weekend’s Regional.
“For a lot of them, I can see (Abbey’s) set the bar for them. But she’s also straddling the bar, reaching back down to tell them, ‘You can do this too,’” Joseph Slaven said. “It’s almost like having an extra coach sometimes. It’s not like the coach, but having a buddy telling you (ways to improve). … She’s competitive, but super supportive of her teammates.”
Samantha Keilman, Noelia Guerrido, Cheyanne Miller, and Dria Keilman round out the squad, and all 11 have enjoyed highlight moments this season including three-game series where all three were above their single-game averages. Those top seven all have put together high series above 500, led heading into Wednesday by Slaven’s best of 733, Yagley’s of 652 and Brunell’s of 604.
They’ll take to the lanes next for the Feb. 24-25 Division 4 Regional at Ten Pin Bowling Alley in Tecumseh. Once again, the top three teams from Friday and top 10 singles from Saturday will advance to the Division 4 Finals, this season March 3-4 at M-66 Bowl in Battle Creek.
Past Teams of the Month, 2022-23
December: Byron Center hockey - Report
November: Martin football - Report
October: Gladwin volleyball - Report
September: Negaunee girls tennis - Report
(PHOTO courtesy of the Taylor Trillium Academy girls bowling program.)