LocalSportsJournal.com
CANTON — Whitehall senior Karli VanDuinen capped off her high school career by capturing the Division 2 singles title in girls bowling on Saturday at the Super Bowl in Canton.
She turned back Wayland senior Bella Harnish by a whopping 79 pins, 460-381 in the championship match.
VanDuinen made the quarterfinals in the singles event last year before being eliminated, and the experience obviously served her well on Saturday.
After she got through the qualifying block as the number three seed, VanDuinen faced Cedar Springs’ Chloe Fish in the round of 16, and blew past her, 409-310.
Next up was a match against Livonia Clarenceville freshman Caitlyn Johnson in the quarter, and this time was determined not to have her run end there … but it was not easy.
VanDuinen had to dig deep to outlast Johnson, who kept it close all the way before VanDuinen pulled the match out by the slimmest of margins, 357-356 to advance to the semifinals.
In the semifinals she met Wayland junior Kadence Bottrall, and this time VanDuinen didn’t need to sweat as she rolled up a convincing 441-385 win and headed for the championship match.
Also competing in the girls finals was Fruitport juniors Brynna Hanson and Raegan Dykstra and Whitehall sophomore Ava Garcia.
Kent City senior Peytin Brake made the finals in Division 3, but lost her opening round match to Brooke Binder, 262-164. Brake came out of the qualifying block as the fourth seed.
Also competing for Kent City was junior Madi Brake.
In Division 4 Ravenna had junior Mae Mabrito, senior Emily Linck and senior Liberty Willick.
Mason County Central junior Haley Story was in the hunt, but did not qualify for the final round.
Holton was represented by sophomore May Newell.
Boys bowling singles state finals
In the boys competition, Grand Haven senior Bonham Pulcifer failed to make it out of the qualifying block in Division 1.
Reeths-Puffer senior Jace Ayala also didn’t advance out of the qualifying block in Division 2.
Orchard View senior Trent Beerman lost in the first round of the Division 3 finals to Almont junior Matt Redmond, 213-156. Beerman was seeded third out of the qualifying block.
Kent City sent juniors Webb Longcore and Jud Weber as well as senior Denver Golden to state, but they did not make it out of the qualifying block.
In Division 4 for the Ravenna boys juniors Dylan Gordon and Vaughn Luce competed but did not make the finals.
Also competing for the boys in Division 3 was Holton junior Chase Albright.
