CHESTERFIELD TOWNSHIP — Shari Beattie was content to be a sideline mom, but now she’s upped her game — Beattie is officially a championship coach.
And that’s kind of a big deal around Chesterfield Austin Catholic. Under Beattie’s watch last weekend, Austin’s girls bowling team topped a 10-team field at Ten Pin Alley in Tecumseh. It’s Austin’s first regional championship in any sport in the school’s 10-year history.
The five Crusaders in the varsity lineup had a four-game total pinfall of 2,655, ranking ahead of runner-up Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central (2,604). Both teams qualified for this weekend’s Division 4 state championship tournament, to be held at Super Bowl in Canton.
“I’m still kind of shocked and pleased,” Beattie said. “We were undefeated in the regular season. My assistant (Kimberly Weir) and I just hoped all of the girls would bowl to the best of their abilities, and that happened.”
Among the 47-bowler field, Austin senior Madeline Beattie (the coach’s daughter) placed third with a four-game series of 600. Right behind her in fourth was freshman Abby Weir (the assistant’s daughter), at 583.
Although they didn’t rank in the top 10 to qualify for the state finals as individuals, senior Isabelle Boudreau (12th, 530) and junior Lucia Schudt (15th, 515) also played key roles in the win, while senior Isabella Vasilides (30th, 427) rounded out the Crusader scoring.
The Austin bowlers didn’t know at the time that they entered the final game in second place behind SMCC. Then the magic happened.
“We bowled a 770 as a team; it was our highest series as a team. That was awesome. It changed our position from second to first,” coach Beattie said. “It was the energy. Our girls got their energy up and they did the job.”
Weir (182), Boudreau (172) and Schudt (189) all had their best games of the afternoon, helping Austin erase a 40-point deficit.
Perhaps the best moment of the day was when the final scores were announced, as the Crusaders had no idea they had won until that point.
“That was amazing,” Beattie said. “I was hoping all of our girls would do well enough to place in the top 10. They were all in the upper third, and that was good enough (to place first), but watching my daughter accomplish it capped off the season. At that point I was just a mom on the sideline, and it was a blessing.”
The numbers don’t tell the whole story, though. For one thing, Austin’s girls program is just four years old.
“The girl who started it when my daughter was a freshman was Elaina Smyka, who was bowling on the boys team because we didn’t have a girls team at that time,” Beattie said.
After that season, the former coach moved on, so Beattie was called to take over. Although she teaches yoga, she was a lifelong bowler, so she accepted the job — she calls it “an unplanned blessing.”
“I read, I took classes, used my education background, and hired a professional bowling pro to help me,” she said. “My girls wanted to learn, and that’s what helped them. They were coachable and got better. They worked really hard.”
The program has advanced by leaps and bounds since then. The roster continues to expand, and it’s now at the point where about one-quarter of the entire school population bowls.
Assistant principal and athletic director Jim Baker said Beattie and Weir deserve all the credit they can get.
“I’m very proud of the work they’ve done with the girls,” Baker said. “It’s just a testament for them to create the best experience for the students. It’s definitely been a labor of love for these two.”
Sophomore Kasi Waldi, senior Ellie Elward, sophomore Ava Schrage, sophomore Annaliese Heath and freshman Sara Vasilides are also on the girls varsity squad. The boys team had eight members and placed fifth in its regional tournament.
“They’re still building,” Beattie said. “I think good things will happen for them next year.”
According to Beattie, the Crusaders didn’t have any goals entering regionals other than “have fun and do your best.”
“That’s always the goal when you’re a bowler,” she said. “It’s kind of a weird sport — you play and then you sit back and either use the energy from that spot, and or recover from it. It’s just like life — little snippets.”
Beattie said bowling is a great lifelong sport that doesn’t end after high school, and it teaches life lessons.
“Bowling is like a microcosm of the world,” she said. “We have to work with people we normally wouldn’t be with. There will always be teams. You have to trust your teammates to carry you, and sometimes you have to carry somebody else.”
“To be able to watch my Austin bowlers grow as athletes, teammates, leaders and human beings makes this the best job I almost didn’t have.”
Farmington Hills Mercy joined Austin as regional team champions from the Catholic League. The Marlins, buoyed by individual champion Maddie Briggs (761) and third-place finisher Claire Zahra (756), won the regional at Five-Star Lanes in Sterling Heights. Mercy had a total pinfall of 3,455 — 48 better than Sterling Heights Stevenson.
Outside of Austin and Mercy, several other Catholic League student-athletes have qualified for this weekend’s bowling state championships, based on their regional performance.
Included among the girls’ qualifiers — all from the Tecumseh Regional — are Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central freshman Lilly Duran, Allen Park Cabrini freshman Brianna Manning, Riverview Gabriel Richard senior Hannah Sauve and her teammate, junior Lucy Carroll.
No Catholic League schools were able to advance to the boys team state finals, but there were 10 individual qualifiers: University of Detroit Jesuit senior Paul Downey and classmate Caidan Rochelle, Novi Detroit Catholic Central junior Nick Zappla, Dearborn Divine Child senior Noelle Jackson, Orchard Lake St. Mary’s junior Michael Redmond, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep junior Anthony Ghaith, Madison Heights Bishop Foley sophomore Nolan Matz, Detroit Loyola freshman Ryan Champion, Cabrini sophomore Nathan Radke, and Riverview Gabriel Richard junior Mateo Fedele.
The Catholic High School League has an interesting history when it comes to state bowling championships. On the girls side, no Catholic League school has ever won a team championship, yet four individuals have won the state titles: Felicia Goll of Warren Regina (2007), Deloria Walker of Royal Oak Shrine (2006), Sarah Jaeger of Livonia Ladywood (2004) and Breena Schneider of Cabrini (2004).
For the boys, it’s the opposite — no individual state champions have hailed from the Catholic League, but five schools have claimed boys team titles: University of Detroit-Jesuit (2014), Riverview Gabriel Richard (2013), Ann Arbor Fr. Gabriel Richard (2011), Detroit Catholic Central (2010) and Warren De La Salle (2006).
