Warren Mott Junior Varsity Teams Excel at State Tournament
This
past weekend the Warren Mott Boys and Girls teams competed
at the state finals at Pro-Bowl West in Lansing, Michigan. Six
of our young athletes participated in the state singles competition,
which was bowled on Saturday, and both teams competed in the
team event on Sunday.
Our
young bowlers did Warren Mott proud as the boy's team brought
home the state championship and the girls finished fourth in
their division. In singles, Kris Smith made it to the
match play bracket round as the 19th seed and Jessica Biernacki
qualified as the 6th seed on the girls' side. Unfortunately,
both bowlers did not make it out of the first round of match
play as Kris finished 27th and Jessica finished
10th. However, freshman Veronica "Big V" Wineski qualified
as the 3rd seed on the girls' side and quickly advanced to the
semi-final round of competition. After bowling 166 and 165 in
her first two matches, the number of games took its toll on
Veronica as she fell to Katie Schmaltz of Walled Lake
Central in the semi-finals. In the consolation match Veronica
rolled a nice 132 game but it was not quite enough to bring
home third as she finished fourth in the competition, and the
state, for the 2002-2003 season.
After
the competition all the team members collected back at the hotel
and were treated to a pizza party and had the rest of the evening
to relax and have some fun with each other while the parents
all got to know each other a little bit better as well. This
has been a very close nit group since day one and the way all
the parents come out and support their children along with the
program is an exciting thing to see, especially for building
the program into the future. After a fun evening it was time
to get to bed and get ready for the team tournament on Sunday.
As
we all got to the bowling center in the morning, there was an
anticipation that started growing early. All the bowlers were
nervous and anxious to get things rolling. The girls started
a little slow, trying to shake off some first time nerves and
cope with the high noise levels coming from the Milford and
Stevenson contingent. But after they settled in, they began
moving up the standings shooting very consistent scores, match
after match. When the dust settled, as they finished their 14
game qualifying round, the team found themselves in third place
behind favorites Stevenson and Milford. This meant a number
three seed going into the best two-out-of-three bracket matches
and a good chance of getting to the semi-finals. In the first
round the opponent was Romeo High School and it was not easy
at all as the girls needed three games to win the match, rolling
a very nice 183 game in the third game, to move on to the next
round of competition. In the semi-finals, the girls were matched
up with a very good Milford team. Again, the match needed to
go to the third game but this time it was Milford getting the
big third game to defeat the Lady Junior Marauders and send
the girls to the consolation match versus Waterford Kettering.
With all the energy having been exhausted, the girls fell to
Kettering in the match but claimed fourth place in the state
for this season. Considering most of this group of girls had
never bowled in league competition before the start of this
season, let alone a state final, making it this far was a great
accomplishment. Our ladies did themselves proud and we are all
proud of them. Jessica Hendrix was the lone senior, Erika
Wagner, Jessica Biernacki and Chrissy DeSlippe
are juniors, Lauren Basilico is a sophomore and Veronica
Wineski is a freshman. These ladies all worked very hard
all season to get themselves to where they are, state champion
finalists and fourth in the state.
The
boys' team started a little bit better than the girls did, as
many of them competed last year in the state finals held in
Battle Creek. The guys came out strong and after the first four
games they found themselves in second place behind a very strong
Hudsonville team from the Grand Rapids area. However, in the
third set, the human side of the team showed up. Shooting some
of the lower scores they shot all season for the next three
games, it was time to rebound and they did. While rotating the
line up with all seven players we brought to the finals, the
team showed that it really did not matter who was in there as
they averaged over 200 for the last seven games to finish fourth
in the qualifying round. With one senior, Darryl Sage,
one junior, Kris Smith, three sophomores, Jason Provencher,
Michael Kusmierz and captain Jeff Peltier, along
with two freshman, Kyle Kovach and John Breaugh,
rotating in and out of the line up, it was hard to tell the
players without a scorecard, especially since Mike got
his haircut. But there was still a lot of work to be done and
after the lunch break the real competition would begin.
When
we all came back from lunch, the best two-out-of-three match
play started. Our first match was against last years state finalist
Marshall. The boys exploded out of the break with a fine 242
game in the first match against a 202 for Marshall but they
were not done yet. In the next game, the guys started with the
first 5 strikes only to have a 5-pin stand in the sixth frame.
After that they picked right back up and strung the next six
strikes to shoot a game and season high 279 game and eliminate
Marshall from the competition. The 279 game was the highest
baker game score shot this season in the state of Michigan and
the 521 two game totals also was high in the state for the year.
But next was the challenge from Lakeview High. The Junior Marauders
continued their explosive attack as they outgunned Lakeview
225-182 and 177-134 to advance to the semi-final bracket. In
the semi-final we would face Warren De La Salle, who had just
knocked out the top seeded Hudsonville in the previous round.
Warren Mott would need three games to advance to the finals
as after splitting the first two matches, the boys regrouped
and shot a fine 236 to De La Salle's 175 to advance to the finals.
In
the finals the Marauders would face the Vikings from Walled
Lake Central who got to the finals by defeating the team from
Utica Ford. Walled Lake started fast as they strung the first
three strikes while Warren Mott had the nerves showing a bit
at the start. However, as the match went on the Junior Marauders
made some spares and threw a couple of key strikes to win the
game in the tenth frame161-157. The second game was a different
story as Warren Mott started strong and finished the game off
shooting a nice 198 game to 170 for Walled Lake Central to win
the 2002-2003 Boys Junior Varsity State Championship. The place
erupted with cheers as the girls' final was already over and
the whole bowling center was huddled around the pair of lanes
watching the finals. As captain Jeff Peltier threw the
last shot all the team members, as well as the coaches, swarmed
Jeff on the lanes in a joyous celebration of the title.
Freshman Kyle Kovach was next on the agenda as he gave
a little more of himself to the team than what he thought he
might. After seven years of growing his hair tail, Kyle
allowed a small piece of it to be cut off and put on the team
trophy as part of his overall contribution, with the team holding
him down while his dad did the cutting.
All
the boys, as well as the girls, received individual medals to
commemorate their accomplishments and the team trophy was presented
to the coaching staff comprised of Jerry Tarabek, Head
Coach, and Brandon Tarabek, Assistant Coach. The team
then immediately dedicated the trophy in honor of another teammate,
Keven Beasley, who could not be there this weekend to
compete due to the untimely passing of his mother earlier in
the week.
This
was a glorious weekend for all involved and I want to thank
all the parents who supported the bowlers all season long. If
this is to be my last season as coach, it has been a very enjoyable
experience and one that I will not soon forget. Thank you to
one and all for a great season.
Jerry
Tarabek
Head Coach
