Every coach dreams of going out as a champion, and that’s now a reality for veteran Fruitport bowling coach Mike Weaver.
Weaver is retiring from coaching with three straight titles, in fact.
That’s because his Fruitport boys team clinched its third consecutive O-K Blue conference title on Saturday by finishing second in the postseason tournament. The overall champion is determined by the outcomes of all the conference events throughout the season.
Weaver knows that three consecutive team championships is a strong statement about the Fruitport boys bowling program.
[1]“It takes a lot of consistency,” the coach said. “The ones starting out as freshmen and sophomores learn as they go, and they’re productive when it’s their turn to shine. Next year should not be any different for the team. They are only losing Jray (Conklin) to graduation. They will have a starting team walking back in next year and should be able to do the same thing.”
Conklin finished third individual at Saturday’s tournament with a 201-226-160-583 series, Gage Wadland took seventh place with a 199-179-186-564 series, and Michael Hanson was ninth with a 211-159-165-535 series.
That performance left Conklin as the overall conference boys champion for the season while Wadland and Fruitport’s Bradon Krohn finished second and third, respectively.
“I’ve never had three of them finish one, two and three,” Weaver said. “That’s kind of unheard of. We are pretty solid in our top five. Jray is hands down above the class, and it shows.”
[2]Two Fruitport girls had great days individually at the postseason tournament.
Raegan Dykstra won the individual championship with a 211-174-209-594 series while her teammate Brynna Hanson was second with a 199-201-192-592 series.
Hanson finished second in the overall individual girls conference standings while Dykstra was third.
The Fruitport girls finished third in the tournament as a team and third in the final overall conference standings.
Both the Fruitport boys and girls teams will hit the postseason on Thursday for Division 2 team regionals and Friday for individual regionals.
Weaver his high hopes for the boys team to finish in the top three at regionals and qualify for the state finals.
Despite all the success his teams have had at the local level, he’s never had one qualify for state.
[3]“I don’t remember the last Fruitport team that qualified as a team,” Weaver said. “We’ve had some great teams in the past, they just did not perform well at regionals. This year we have more of a well-rounded team. I would be overjoyed if they made it.”
Weaver knows the girls team is also capable of rising up at regionals and qualifying for state. After all, the girls won last week’s GMAA City Tournament against a big field of strong opponents.
But several of the bowlers on the girls team joined as the season went along, so he’s not entirely sure what to expect.
“If they bowl the way they have recently, and they have a big day, they could sneak in,” Weaver said.
Either way, Weaver is confident that Hanson and Dykstra will do well in the individual girls regional competition.
“Brynna won the regional last year,” he said. “She even beat the boys.” 
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