Nine Advanced to Stepladder Tournament in MHSAA Individual Bowling

Damien Milliman of Northwest High School advanced the Michigan High School Athletic Association Division 2 individual bowling finals on Saturday at Century Bowl in Waterford. Photo by Jeff Steers, JTV Sports.

By Jeff Steers
JTV Sports

(March 29, 2021 4:09 PM) Nine area bowlers advance to the sweet 16 in Michigan High School Athletic Association individual bowling over the weekend.

Northwest High School nearly had an all-Mountie final in Division 2.

Brayden Metcalf qualified fourth in the MHSAA Division 2 individual tournament held Saturday at Century Bowl in Waterford. Metcalf shot 1,290 for the six-game qualifying block.

Teammate Damien Milliman qualified 11th with an average just over 200.

Milliman won three matches to qualify for the finals in a two-game roll off. He lost to Kyle Pranger in the finals, 416-389.

Metcalf won a pair of matches before losing to Pranger in the semifinal match, 403-395.

Ryan Wenman finished 30th for Northwest with a qualifying score of 1,118.

In the girls’ D-2 competition, Karrah Wiggins of Northwest grabbed the 16th and final individual qualifying spot with a total of 1,116. She lost in the opening round of the stepladder format.

In Division 3, Parker Horvath of Grass Lake was the No. 3 seed following qualifying with a score of 1,252 at JAX 60 Saturday. Napoleon’s bowler Brandon Teddy was the No. 10 seed scoring 1,180 in qualifying.

Horvath lost in the opening round, but Teddy defeated his opponent 397-353. He lost by 27 pins in the second round.

Clayton Weir of Grass Lake was 22nd overall scoring 1,112 and teammate Jack Marshall finished 27th for the Warriors scoring 1,075.

No girls advanced in the Division 3 tournament. Izzi Green of Columbia Central was 41st (951), Courtney Lowe of Grass Lake finished 52nd (909), and Kaelin Pond of Michigan Center scored 860, good for 55th place.

In Division 4 at Super Bowl in Canton, Jackson Kremer of Lumen Christi finished third in qualifying with a score of 1,223. He was the only top 16 qualifiers for Jackson County bowlers. He lost in the opening round of the stepladder tournament.

Layne Holda of Hanover-Horton finished 27th (1,034) and Hunter Richmond of Lumen Christi was 39th (982).

Three bowlers advanced to the stepladder in Division 4 girls. Kassidy Alexander was the No. 2 seed scoring 1,152 in qualifying. She won a pair of matches before losing in the semifinals to eventual champions Morgan Brunner of Gobles.

Arielle Oakley of Vandercook was the No. 6 seed (1,055) and Samantha Dwight of East Jackson placed 11th (1,002). Dwight lost to Oakley in the opening round, but the Vandercook bowler lost to Brunner in the quarterfinals.

Brianna Langley of Vandercook just missed the stepladder by one place with a total of 954 pins, good for 17th place.

The top eight in each division tournament earn all-state medals.