MADISON HEIGHTS — It’s all about technique and moxie, a combination of fearlessly employing the skills to effect a desired result, a championship.
Superb performances were exhibited last weekend in a bowling alley and on a wrestling mat.
At the Jax 60 lanes in Jackson, the Madison Heights Bishop Foley girls bowling team was pushed to its absolute limit winning three best-of-five Baker matches to capture the Michigan High School Athletic Association’s Division 3 championship, the first in the school’s history.
At Ford Field in Detroit, Darius Marines of Novi Detroit Catholic Central won his fourth consecutive individual wrestling championship, and junior Sebastian Martinez of Riverview Gabriel Richard his third straight individual title.
Jacey likes the pressure as anchor
“During the season,” sophomore Jacey Thibodeau said, “we did well in Baker games. Having that mindset kind of picked us up.”
The Ventures needed all the pick-up they could get. They ran out to a 2-0 lead over Armada in the quarterfinals before needing to win the fifth game to advance. In the semifinal against the defending champion Flint Powers Catholic, they rallied to win the last two games after losing two of the first three to reach the finals.
Against Milan for the championship, Bishop Foley won the first game but lost the next two.
Neither team held a lead of more than five pins midway through the fourth and fifth games. “I want Jacey in that spot. She’s the anchor bowler for a reason,” said first-year Bishop Foley coach Bradford Grems. “That’s what she does. She’s amazing.”
“I like being anchor with all that pressure,”Jacey said. “I can be in that situation because the rest of team came through in the clutch.”
Jacey doubled in the 10th frame of the fourth game to force a fifth game and threw two strikes and a 9-count in the 10th frame for the championship.
“It’s mostly my mental game,” Jacey explained. “I tell myself to make good shots, to have confidence. Don’t get ahead of yourself or get frustrated. I know I can do it. I’ve learned that from my coach.”
Her coach for the last five years has been Michelle Mullen, general manager at Country Lanes in Farmington Hills. A former coach for Team USA and one of 25 United States Bowling Congress GOLD coaches in the world (among four women), she has been coaching bowlers of all skill levels for nearly 30 years. She is co-owner of Your Bowling Coach with Aleta Rzepecki-Sills, a 31-time PWBA champion.
Marines hits a wrestling grand slam
“It was just another day,” Darius Marines said about winning his fourth individual wrestling title.
It was far from a ho-hum day. There aren’t too many wrestlers — in fact, just 36 others in MHSAA records and only two others in Catholic Central history — who can claim a grand slam (to apply a baseball term) to describe Marines’ accomplishment.
Marines won the 145-pound title as a freshman, the 152-pound championship as a sophomore and the 157-pound title as a junior and a senior.
He joins an elite group of 37 wrestlers in state history who have won four titles in a row including two former Shamrocks, Dylan Gilcher in 2020-21-22-23 and Kevon Davenport in 2016-17-18-19.
Marines dominated Roseville sophomore Jay’Den Williams for his record-setting win.
“He’s a Greco guy,” Marines explained, “so I knew he was going to look for underhooks and upper body things, so my plan was to stay out of his positions and get to my stuff and that’s what I did. I like low-level attacks, single legs, keep it baseline, pretty basic.”
A challenge to future Pioneers
Sebastian Martinez issued a proclamation when he was a freshman and won the MHSAA Division 4 individual title at 145 pounds.
“I am starting a new legacy for future Pioneers coming to this school,” Martinez said of being Riverview Gabriel Richard’s first champion. “This program is going to be something great, and I am just glad I got to be the first.”
Martinez is doing his part, winning the 157-pound title as a sophomore and the 165 bracket as a junior last weekend, defeating Iron Mountain’s Fulton Stroud in a 9-1 major decision.
Martinez finished the season with a perfect 54-0 record. He now owns a combined three-year record of 116-7.
Contact Don Horkey at [email protected].
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