The Sailors' Log

Bowling teams make it to state finals

Tuesday, March 27, 2012 By Rachel Swartz

Chemistry can be one of the most important aspects of a team, and the Shores bowling teams were not short on this as both won the City, conference and regional titles before struggling at the state finals. "Our chemistry goes back to ninth grade," junior Ashley Cory said. "We tried very hard, but our coach didn’t think we would make it as far as we did because we were just thrown together. When we worked together, we kicked butt." Support is another thing that the teams were not short of. "Our chemistry is outstanding," junior Mitch Davignon said. "We help each other when someone isn’t doing well, and whether the situation is thick or thin, we get through it." City Tournament The boys beat Orchard View in the City finals with junior Chris Sherburn placing third (441), and Davignon was seventh (402). The girls also took first, beating Fruitport in the finals. Cory took first with a 452 for the second year in a row. Junior Jill Klein took second place, and sophomore Magann Dykema was third place. Conference Tournament Both teams won; however, coach Greg Schmeling did not submit any results. Regional Tournament The boys took first place after coming out of the Baker games in 10th place. Five individuals also advanced to the state finals. Junior Grant Gillard finished second with 1,238 pins, Chris Sherburn placed third, junior Jake Sherburn was sixth, junior Hunter Carlson took eighth, and Davignon placed ninth. The girls crushed their competition, winning by 352 pins in the regional tournament. Senior Lydia Birch placed second with 1,153 pins while Klein placed third, Cory placed fourth, and freshman McKenna Birch was eighth. "My favorite memory was finding out that the girls and the guys from Shores took first place in regionals," Cory said. "It was great to know that we were all going to state as a team. ." Although it was a great season overall, it was not all smooth sailing. The boys took 11th place at the state finals with Jake Sherburn (23rd place), Davignon (28th), Carlson (33rd), Gillard (39th), and Chris Sherburn (52nd). The girls took 14th place in the state while Lydia Birch (23rd), Cory (48th), freshman McKenna Birch (55th), and Klein (58th) all placed. "We ran into some lane conditions that we did not bowl on all year in the finals this year, and that caught us by surprise," Schmeling said. "We had no way of getting around the conditions that MHSAA put down, scores were low and our kids could not find a shot on the lanes." The conditions proved to be a disheartening experience for Shores. "This is very disappointing to all of us, as we had huge expectations going into the finals and felt we prepared well for the finals only to run into conditions that we had not prepared for," Schmeling said. "If we would have known the conditions would have been like this, we would have done things differently to prepare for this."