Zeke Heerema

Zeke hadn’t been raised on bowling like all the bowling studs he competes against so he had an uphill battle to get to the top. 

After last year’s 10th place state finish as a team and 13th for him as an individual, Zeke set three goals for himself. 

1. Medal in every tournament which he accomplished– but it irritated him as he finished second many times and never first.
2. Win the OK White Conference overall individually, which is done by average. This goal he did achieve with a 215 average, very much enjoying beating Northview’s bowlers who won the team state championship last year and returned everybody.
3. Win the individual state championship in Division 2. To achieve that, Zeke qualified second (again) at Regionals which qualified him for the state tournament.

At the state tournament, Zeke cruised through the first 6 games of qualifying to the second seed out of 16 qualifiers. Now he entered match play where he thumped his first opponent handily. Feeling confident, he stepped into his next match where he faced a red-hot fellow lefty who threw a 238 and 246 against Zeke, for a combined score of 484. This score should win virtually every match play, especially when Zeke rolled a 214 to start. Zeke then stepped up to throw a 289 and beat his opponent by 19 pins. Semifinals went according to plan but the state final match did not — the stress and fatigue of bowling 12 games under pressure was wearing all the bowlers down. 

Zeke had a slim 5 pin lead after the first game but fell behind in the second game. The other finalist needed to just close the frame in the 9th to seal the victory but instead left a split, leaving Zeke enough of an opening if could strike in the 10th which he calmly did to seal the match and the state championship. 

Zeke carried a 233 average through the state tournament to become the first bowler in Grand Rapids Christian to earn an individual state title in bowling.

Zeke wants to give special thanks to his team, Coach Dan and Coach Joey and his amazingly perfect parents. (“Amazingly perfect” was written by Zeke’s dad.)

We are looking forward to seeing what you can do in your senior year.

Ben Sytsma

Ben is celebrating a state title again, this time in the 50 yard freestyle!  Ben was also runner-up in the 100 freestyle where he was a champion last year. The team this year finished in 5th place at the division 3 state championship and won an event state title. 

2023 Swim highlights for Ben include setting new school records for the 50 Freestyle in 20.57 seconds, passing his own record (21.03) from 2022.  In the 100 Freestyle Ben set the new school record of 44.96 seconds, passing his own record (45.63) from 2022.  He was conference champion in his two individual events: 200 yard freestyle and 100 yard freestyle.  Ben finished with all-conference, all-state and with all-American consideration honors.  

Ben would like to thank all of his teammates, especially this year's senior, Blake Bouwman for making the season so much better.  The team is like a second family to him, He couldn’t have done any of this without them.  

Congratulations to Ben for his passion for the sport and the training he has put in, his family for the commitment they have made, and the team for encouraging Ben to do his best.  We are proud of you as a student-athlete and are looking forward to what else you will accomplish in the future.  As your Athletic Director, I’m also proud of you for being the first Eagle to be on the MHSAA Student Advisory Board which the MHSAA uses as a sounding board to get the student perspective on issues and ideas. Looking forward to a great senior year for you, Ben.