HAMPTON TOWNSHIP, MI – Jim Tesner never wants his team living in the past.
Unless it’s making history.
The veteran coach knows a significant accomplishment when he sees it, and he wants his Essexville Garber girls bowling team to fully appreciate the first regional championship in program history.
The Dukes bested the 18-team field that converged Friday at Alert Lanes, taking top honors and advancing to the Division 3 state finals.
“One thing I always preach is that the only thing that matters is what’s in front of you,” Tesner said. “It doesn’t matter what’s behind you, and that includes the spectators as well as the frames you already bowled.
“Now, every once in awhile there is an exception to the rule,” he said while eying the regional championship trophy. “This matters right here.”
Essexville Garber joins John Glenn, Caro, Clare, Standish-Sterling, Oscoda and Unionville-Sebewaing among the area girls teams heading to the state finals next weekend. Whittemore-Prescott is the lone area boys team advancing.
The Essexville Garber girls bowling team captured the Division 3 regional title at Alert Lanes.Courtesy
The squad of Maya Janowicz, Alena Grawburg, Ireland Michalak, Taylor Osterhout, Taylor Adams, Brooke Binder and Brittany Rohde broke new ground in Garber history by capturing the regional crown.
The Dukes toppled 3,541 pins to top runner-up Ovid-Elsie by 170 pins. Of the seven 800 games rolled during the Peterson portion of the tournament, Garber accounted for three of them – highlighted by a tourney-high 914 game to finish the day.
Returning every bowler from last year’s team that finished fifth in the region – missing a state berth by two places – the Dukes knew they had a serious shot at taking the next step this time around.
“We missed making it to states by 42 pins last year,” Tesner said. “Over six Baker games and three Peterson games, 42 pins is nothing. So I kept hammering into them that they had to stay focused. We can’t throw any pins away. And, boy, they stepped up today. Their spare game was probably 75 percent better than a year ago.”
The Dukes are heading to the state finals at for the sixth time in program history. Now they hope to join the 2009 squad as the only Garber girls teams to advance to the state quarterfinals.
“We’re not done,” Tesner said. “We’ve got to start thinking about next week.”
John Glenn finished third to take the final state qualifying spot at the Division 2 regional at Gaylord. The Bobcats tallied 3,274 pins to finish behind Flint Kearsley and Iron Mountain. This marks Glenn’s 13th state berth, ending a rare two-year drought.
Caro and Clare both captured regional championships in Division 3 action. Caro earned its sixth state-finals berth with its third regional title. Clare, which reached the state quarterfinals last season in its first trip to the state finals, now has the program’s first regional crown on its resume.
The Division 3 state finals are set for March 6-7 at Jax 60 in Jackson. The Division 2 finals are at Waterford’s Century Bowl while the Division 4 finals are set for Lansing’s Royal Scot Lanes.
The Bay City area made some noise in singles action. In Division 2 action at Gaylord, John Glenn’s Nick Stewart advanced from the boys field while Glenn’s Julia Struck and Bay City Western’s Ally Houlihan, Madison Sursely and Faith Bell qualified for the state finals for the girls.
At the Division 3 regional hosted by Garber, the home team qualified regional champion Braedyn Hofmeister, Michael Carr and Zachary Moore for the boys and Brooke Binder, Maya Janowicz and Ireland Michalak for the girls.
Caro’s Baylee Hutchinson and Clare’s defending state champion Jenna Betts both won regional titles in Division 3 singles action to headline the list of area state qualifiers. Unionville-Sebewaing’s Ethan Androl captured the regional crown in Division 4 play at Bay Lanes.
RELATED READING
Champions and qualifiers celebrate at high school bowling regionals
High school bowling state rankings