MUSKEGON, MI – The Reeths-Puffer boys bowling team captured the 2025 GMAA tournament title last week.

The victory came thanks to a balanced lineup featuring a core of veteran standouts who rose to the occasion to take home local bragging rights with the city championship.

Last week, Reeths-Puffer senior Quinn Alderink was voted the top senior winter sports athlete from the Muskegon area and followed that up with a second-place individual finish at the GMAA city tournament.

Reeths-Puffer junior Liam Copenhaver added a strong performance as well, as he rolled a 402 series to finish fifth overall at the loaded event. On the season, Copenhaver has registered a 187 average and recently added a 232 game against Jenison, games of 234 and 203 against Muskegon and a season-high of 254 against Mona Shores.

The three-year varsity bowler has improved his conference average by 21 pins from last season and earned O-K Green first team all-conference honors after finishing third overall at the final conference tournament of the season last week.

“Liam had steadily improved his first three years on the team,” said Reeths-Puffer coach Craig Alderink. “He made a big improvement from last season and now has the highest average on the team. He is one of the main reasons that the Reeths-Puffer team has had so much success this season.”

The readers of MLive and the Muskegon Chronicle were impressed with Copenhaver’s rise up the bowling ranks this winter and flooded the polls this past week in support of the Reeths-Puffer standout.

Copenhaver finished the week with more than 40 percent of the total votes cast to be named the Muskegon-area Winter Sports Star for the Class of 2026.

Kent City boys wrestling standout Sammy Anderson finished runner-up with 21 percent of the total votes after he captured a Division 3 district championship at 120 pounds. The standout grappler for the Eagles is a three-time all-conference selection in the CSAA, a two-time CSAA conference champion and a two-time regional qualifier and a state qualifier in 2023.

Grant boys basketball standout Zaiden Phillips finished third overall with 20 percent of the total votes. He was nominated after averaging 19.5 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.4 assists, and two steals per game this winter while shooting 61.6 percent from the field, 46.4 percent on 3-point attempts and 76.8 percent from the free-throw line.

Kent City girls basketball standout Laynee Hoffman finished fourth overall in the voting process 10 percent of the total votes. She was nominated after averaging 7.8 points (2nd on team), 3.5 steals (team-high), 3.3 rebounds and 3.2 assists (team-high) per game this winter.

Hesperia wrestling standout Noah Walker, who finished runner-up at the Division 4 district tournament at 285 pounds, rounded out the Top 5 vote-getters. Walker is 35-10 overall this season.

If you’d like to see all of the junior class nominations from last week’s article, click here.

Below are the final results from this past week’s fan vote.

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