It was a big day Monday for the Wayland girls’ and boys’ bowling teams.
Not only did both score huge victories over Middleville Thornapple Kellogg, local rollers were traded to a clinc-style friendly competition between seniors Kyle Van Ess and Haven Baker.Van Ess finished the day with a school record for two consecutive game, rolling a 247 and a 269 to tie Dillon Smith’s record of 516.
Baker was no slouch either, except for occasionally missing out on the 10-pin. She rolled a 226 and a 193.
The ladies took down Thornapple-Kellogg 28-0 and the guys prevailed 27-3.
Girls’ coach Eric Bottrall said, “We were actually swinging our heads back and forth between Kyle VanEss’s game and Haven’s. They were neck-to-neck with strike after strike! It was fun to watch.”
The ladies’ Baker games of 139 and 168 put Wayland up 10-0.
Faith Rabideau rolled well with a 156; Lily Keech 147; Jasmine Ortiz 159 Brooke Trumbull 138 and Baker 226.
Wayland swept game two with everyone claiming their point — Ava Harnish 135; Madison Bottrall 122; Lily Keech 132; Jasmine Ortiz 128 and Haven Baker 193 (lots of strikes again – but that rotten ten pin!)
Boys’ coach Sherry Miklusicak reflected, “I’m not quite sure how I can do justice to this afternoon’s write up. You see, there’s this kid who started bowling as a freshman. Usually our good bowlers have developed over years of bowling – more than just their high school four years.
“We are very blessed with five great seniors, four of which started bowling as freshmen, that any coach would love to have. We have a couple of bonus underclassmen as well. I guess bonus isn’t quite the word I am looking for. Our underclassmen make us a team. We would have lost some matches without them.
“Most of our bowlers practice all week with the team, some of them show up for extra practice with coach Eric on Sundays (or Saturdays) and most of them bowl in leagues outside of the high school season.”
The Wildcat guys’ Team Bakers were awesome, with scores of 199 and 220. Jayse Henkel was 3 for 4; Wil Dewing was 4 for 4; Dominik Baker was 3 for 4; Kyle VanEss was 4 for 4 and Louie Harnish was 5 for 5 at anchor.
Game one was all Wayland. Dom Baker rolled a 192; Wil Dewing 205; Jayse Henkel 169; Louie Harnish 176; and Kyle VanEss 247.
“Our team total was 989, which is 11 pins shy of a 200 average for the team.”
She was tasked with the dilemma of leaving starters in for game two when winning 19-0 against a team
“Why would you run the score up when you have already won?” She asked. “Then who stays in the game and who comes out? It’s always a difficult decision that needs to happen quickly. I wanted to make sure some kids who didn’t have as many games as the others got in.”
In game two, Wayland took all points except three. Jayse Henkel rolled a 201 and Kyle VanEss 269. Trevin Berens rolled a 146 and is working hard. Three year bowler Raynie Arendson rolled as well.
Miklusicak gushed about Van Ess’ performance.
“He tied the school two-game series record with incredible bowling,” she said. “Yes, you will find him in the bowling alley any day of the week. You could say he likes the game! Yes, that was sarcasm – he loves the game! He spends countless hours outside of the high school bowling season participating and competing in tournaments.”
The Wildcat boys now are 10-3 in dual matches for the season and the girls are 12-1.
