By Travis Smola
The Vicksburg boys’ bowling team is off and rolling. “This is the best team we’ve ever had,” head coach James Myers said after a nail-biting 17-13 win over Otsego that came down to the final frames.
The boys are 4-1 in their conference and doing better with nearly every meet, even if the matchup against Otsego was a little closer than Myers would have liked. “We’ve got kids that are averaging around 200,” he said.
This includes Myers’ son, Hunter, a senior. Hunter had a 225 game against Paw Paw on December 4. Fellow senior Cameron Hasse is having an incredible year as well. He had an impressive 255 game against Allegan. But one of the highest scores of the season belongs to senior Lucas Hetrick, who bowled a 279 against Paw Paw.
Myers said he expects Hunter and Hasse to bowl at the college level, the first from Vicksburg to do so. At the Portage Northern singles tournament, Myers and Hetrick both finished in the top 10. Myers maintained a 186 average. Hetrick had a 192 average at the tournament.
But it has also been a team effort. On December 15 the team took third at the Portage Northern Invitational, earning the first trophy the program has ever brought home. This made it easy for Myers to call it “a season of firsts.”
The run the team is on should put the boys in good position as the season begins to wind down.
On the girls’ side, things haven’t been quite as successful. On the plus side, the team has more bowlers this year. Sophomore Natasha Elliot has the high score for the girls so far with a 172 against Allegan.
Freshman Eloise Hedeman has managed to break her high score twice this season. The first was a 127 on December 16 and she followed it up with a 129 on January 13.
Myers said both teams have been easy to coach because of how they support one another. “It’s fun because they encourage each other and coach each other,” he said.