Traverse City Record-Eagle

Bowling

Related Photos

  • Mike Eckert

    images_sizedimage_039095215

  • Mike Eckert

    images_sizedimage_039095217
February 7, 2009

Titans, Trojans secure bowling titles

BY MIKE ECKERT

TRAVERSE CITY -- It came down to the wire in the two divisions, but both Great Northwest Bowling Conference champions retained the Gerald Schwartz Memorial Trophy Saturday.

Traverse City West's boys won their fourth straight GNBC title while TC Central's girls won the league crown for the second straight time in the regular season finale at Timber Lanes.

The Titans and Trojans squared off against each other Saturday with both league titles on the line. In the boys division, West won 23-7 to finish the season 11-1. TC Central and TC Christian each finished 9-3 for second in the league.

"We were fortunate to beat them," West coach Mike Griffin said. "We won 23-7, but the match was a lot closer than people think."

The Titans held a 6-4 lead going into the regular matches before extending their lead to 13-5 after the first game.

West junior Devon Johnson played a key role in the win. After filling in as a sub in the Baker games, Griffin kept Johnson in the lineup and he finished with a 182-220.

"This was only his second time on varsity," Griffin said. "We had one kid out. (Devon) wasn't even starting, but we decided to leave him in because he was throwing the ball well."

Johnson said he fought off early jitters and got in a rhythm.

"I was nervous, but I threw a couple of strikes and got confidence," Johnson said.

Aaron Johnson bowled a 214 for the Titans while Joey Caldwell had a 201, James Fuqua had a 194 and Tyler Monroe rolled a 192.

Central's high game was a 245 from Christian Vreeland while Alex Fancy

rolled a 230. Steve Tate also scored the Trojans a point with a 182 in the second game.

In the girls match, TC Central earned a 24-6 win over the Titans for their second straight title. The Trojans moved to 11-1 while West fell to 10-2.

"We won the first two Bakers and we won the first set," Trojans coach Mike Schlimme said. "Not with spectacular scores, but with good, strong scores. When you score your points early, it makes the rest of your day easier."

The Trojans repeated as GNBC champs after losing five seniors from last year's team.

"We only had two bowlers left and had to build a team," Schlimme said. "It's definitely exciting. The girls came through and really hit their marks. I told them to concentrate and focus, and they did that well today."

Mariah Kalbfleisch was one of the newcomers for the Trojans this year after she started bowling in October. She was the first bowler for Central in the Baker games and helped the team sweep the Baker points.

"I was nervous," Kalbfleisch said. "I couldn't sleep at all last night and couldn't eat lunch. If we didn't win those two Bakers, it would have been a struggle."

Kalbfleisch settled into her game and threw a 211 in the second game.

"I wasn't picking up any spares," Kalbfleisch said. "It was strike, empty. Strike, empty. I didn't think I was going to strike out."

Kalbfleisch earned Central two points with a 135-211 while Nichole Lally had two points with a 162-165. Other games scoring points included Katie Vreeland with a 169 and Taylor Schultz with a 107. Ashley Bearinger also had a 159 for the Trojans.

West's high game included a 201-161 from Ashley Parent. Taylor Pahl had a 168-152 and Breanna Bitely scored a point with a 123 in the first game.

In the boys division, Traverse City Christian had an opportunity to take second place in the league standings outright, but was hit with a 24-6 loss to Traverse City St. Francis. The Gladiators were paced by a 222 from Jordan Blodgett while Spencer Schmerheim had a 204. Andrew Fay had a 183 for Christian while Brian Benson bowled a 158 and Jeremy Radtke a 151.

The loss knocked the Sabres to 9-3 and in a tie with TC Central for second.

"I'm very happy," Christian coach Andy Radtke said. "You look at the teams in the MHSAA with bowling and I think there is only one team with smaller enrollment (than us). We've had a tremendous season by any account."

Text Only