Bowling teams have a few weeks of action under their belts, and several area schools are having positive results in the early going.
St. Louis’ girls bowling team fired out to an impressive 4-0 start under coach Kyle Woodcock.
“We started off the season going to a tournament in Muskegon that was mostly all Division 1 and 2 schools with us only being Division 4 and placed 14th out of 24 teams,” Woodcock said. “Casey Monroe is a four-year starter; she struggled a little last year, but this year she has been outstanding so far. Jessica Seeley has come out to a great start and is leading the team in average. Leah Near is the most improved average this year. So far over last year she is up 45 pins.”
Woodcock praised the Tri Valley West for being a very tough division.
“You have Alma and Ovid-Elsie, which usually make it to the state finals in Division 3 year after year, and Ithaca who almost always gets to the Division 4 state finals every year,” he said. “We have made it to the Division 4 final three times in the past nine years, so winning the conference over these teams would be a great accomplishment, and I think we have the team that could do it this year.
“We are young, yet experienced, with only two seniors out of eight bowlers. Each one of these bowlers are returners, so this is the first year I haven’t had to start from scratch.”
Lansing Everett senior Quentin Barker has bowled a 770 series for his team. Khadihan Radcliff has also had a strong start for his team.
“Everett was not going to have a team this year,” coach Joseph Marutiak said. “It had no coach and no money. At the last minute a student who had never bowled before convinced me, a non-bowler, to help coordinate. Teacher Lance Hunter and alumni Jerry Ruthruff agreed to help with technique. The students agreed to pay for their own practice.
“The team is now up and running, including six kids who never touched a ball before but are now having a ball.”
Heritage girls’ coach Scott Hare is elated that his Lady Hawks had high games of 899 in week 1 and 966 in week 3. Taylor Hare, Taylor Sonnenberg, and Amber Ehlert are having strong seasons for the Heritage team.
“I had the highest game and series of my high school bowling coaching career, 966 and 1,812,” Hare said. “These both occurred in week number three. We are very early in the season, and I am very confident in our team.”
A major highlight for the team was a 30-0 victory in mid-December over Flint Northern. High games for Heritage were recorded by Emily Westendorf (226), Taylor Sonnenberg (223), and Taylor Hare (203).
Heritage also has a good boys’ team, as evidenced by its 26-4 win over Flint Northern recently.
“All five guys were over 200 the first game for a very nice 1,106 game and followed with a 1,058 for our high series of the year of 2,164,” said boys’ coach Todd Ware.
Jeremy Berger had high game with 244.
Coach John Walter of East Lansing continues to have high hope for his boys’ team.
“With only five boys coming out for bowling last year, they got plenty of experience bowling against some of the top teams and bowlers in the state, including Owosso, Corunna, and Ionia,” he said.
Top bowlers on this year’s team are Spencer Brewster, four years on varsity; Adam Walter, three years on varsity; and Joe Croom, two years on varsity.
“With four returning starters on the boys’ team for the first time in at least two years, the team is looking to improve on last year’s win total. An upset or two of the more established teams in the league is a goal and would be a great accomplishment,” Walter said. “Enthusiasm is running high on the girls’ team. We’ll see if we can shoot scores to match.”
As the season progresses, Walter expects Corunna, Holt, Ionia, Grand Ledge, Jackson, and Owosso to be among the top area teams. “It all depends on how many returning bowlers there are on each of these teams, but they have been very competitive in the past,” he said.