MUSKEGON TOWNSHIP – At the beginning of the season, the Fruitport girls bowling team barely existed.

The Trojans had three bowlers – including two standouts – but it takes five to compete as a team, so Fruitport was handicapped, to say the least.

But Coach Mike Weaver kept adding players, all the way up to Wednesday’s Greater Muskegon Athletic Association City Tournament a Northway Lanes.

He just added a fifth bowler on Wednesday, in fact, giving the Trojans a complete lineup to compete at city.

And compete they did.

The Fruitport girls got off to decent start in preliminary competition, finishing third out of 11 teams with one bowler, Brynna Hanson, finishing in the top 10 individually.

Fruitport team members (from left) Brooke Sweet, Brynna Hanson, Raegan Dykstra, Lil Borntreger, Nanami Hoshimo, with Coach Mike Weaver. 

Hanson rolled games of 155 and 196 for a 351 score, good for third place and an individual medal.

The Trojans’ third place finish in the team standings was good enough to get them into the team championship round, where they soared, beating Oakridge in the semifinals and Reeths-Puffer in the finals to capture GMAA girls city championship.

Members of the championship team are Hanson, Raegan Dykstra, Lil Bontrager, Nanami Hoshimo and the new girl, Brooke Sweet.

“I told the girls that they had to kidnap somebody and make sure she was here for this,” Coach Weaver said about getting Sweet on the team at the last moment. “She did great, even though she said she just wanted to have fun.”

The girls’ title put the capper on an all-around great day for the Fruitport bowling program.

Senior Jray Conklin won the individual boys tournament championship. The Fruitport boys team also did very well, finishing first in the team standings in preliminary competition and advancing to the championship round of the team competition.

Fruitport’s Jray Conklin, who won the boys individual championship. 

Just a few months ago, the idea of the shorthanded girls team winning the city title would have seemed far-fetched to anyone familiar with the situation.

But Coach Weaver had a suspicion that it might be possible, based on previous results.

The Trojans frequently had to borrow bowlers from other schools to fill their fourth and fifth spots at tournaments, and they always did pretty well, despite the fact that the bowlers they borrowed were reserves from other teams.

Once they got a complete lineup of their own, the Trojan girls were ready to roll.

“We always borrowed girls and the team always made the cut (into the final four playoffs), using other team’s reserves,” Coach Weaver said. “We never won one of those tournaments, but we came close.

“Now we have a fully competitive girls team headed into regionals.”

Fruitport’s Nanami Hoshimo gets ready to release her shot. 

Conklin, the individual boys champion, is another interesting story, because he didn’t start bowling seriously until his freshman year of high school when he was recruited to the team.

“I played basketball my whole life, then in ninth grade I gave up basketball and started bowling,” he said.

Conklin performed like an old pro on Wednesday, rolling games of 214 and 267 for a total score of 481 to take the top spot in the boys individual competition. He finished thirty pins ahead of Ravenna’s Dylan Gordon, who took second.

“I just felt smooth all day,” said Conklin, who did not finish in the top 10 at city last year. “There were no missed spares in my individual games today. It was a good day of bowling.”

Coach Weaver said Conklin has been competing extremely well as he heads into the final few weeks of his varsity career.

“He’s pretty much unstoppable when he bowls the way he did today,” Weaver said. “I remember when he was on the fence between basketball and bowling. I think it was my son who talked him into coming out for the team. I sure am glad we got him to stick around.”

Fruitport’s Lil Borntreger watches her shot. 

The Trojans boys team finished first out of 11 teams in preliminary competition with an overall score of 2,271 pins. Orchard View was second with 2,220.

Besides Conlin’s first-place individual finish, Fruitport’s Gage Wadland finished third individually with a 418 while Bradon Krohn finished tenth with a 379.

Fruitport advanced to the semifinal round of the team playoff and beat Mona Shores in the semifinals before falling to Orchard View in the championship round.

“The boys’ performance was amazing until that last match against Orchard View,” Coach Weaver said. “Congrats to OV. They are a strong team.”