WATERFORD, Mich. — Three Rivers’ bowling teams fell short at last weekend’s MHSAA Division 2 state finals at Century Lanes in Waterford Township, located west of Pontiac.
However, it was TR junior Jayna Larson who nearly stole the show and pulled off the upset in the girls’ individual tournament Saturday, Feb. 28, reaching the state finals as the second-seed before falling to top-ranked Flint Kearsley junior Noel Bunch 419-368 to finish as runner-up.
Larson was up by two pins after the first game, defeating Bunch 197-195. However, in the two-game total-point affair, Bunch cruised past Larson 224-171 in the second game to take home the victory.
Larson made the tournament by finishing second in the qualifying block earlier in the day Saturday, finishing with 1,221 pins in total, 29 points behind Bunch’s total. She went on to defeat Julia Sovinski of Dearborn Divine Child 425-364 in the first round, Delaney Vanier of Flint Kearsley 362-306 in the quarterfinals, and Chelsie Voss of Bay City John Glenn 424-353 in the semifinals before her loss to Bunch. For her performance, Larson was named First-Team All-State on the girls’ side.
Three Rivers junior Lillie Kerr also competed in the individual finals, finishing 40th overall out of the 56 bowlers competing, scoring 950 pins in the qualifying round.
Individually for the boys, junior Ashton Lahman finished tied for 30th in qualifying with 1,121 pins, freshman Tyce Wilds was 43rd overall with 1,037 pins, and junior Nick Allen was 47th overall with 1,013 pins.
On the team side Friday, Feb. 27, the boys’ team made the quarterfinals after finishing seventh in the qualifying round with 3,181 pins. However, the Wildcats ran into the powerhouse Flint Kearsley team, who notched the second seed after qualifying. After winning the first game 212-210, Three Rivers lost the next three games in the best-of-five to bow out of the tournament, 3-1. That one game Three Rivers won would be the only win by an opponent of Flint Kearsley’s the rest of the day, as they went on to sweep in the semifinals and finals en route to the state title.
On the girls’ side, Three Rivers fell short in qualifying, finishing 11th with 2,717 pins, 77 pins behind eighth-place Cedar Springs.
Sturgis’ Kimes falls short by one pin; Groff, Holden bow out in qualifying
WATERFORD, Mich. — Three Sturgis Trojans bowlers saw their season come to an end last Friday at the Century Bowl in Waterford, Mich.
Josh Groff, Khara Kimes and Miley Holden all qualified for the MHSAA D2 State Individual Finals, however all three missed the cut to move on.
Kimes came within a single pin of making the cut, which was 1,060, by rolling a 1,059. Included in her series was a high score of 201, and her finish placed her 17th for the tournament. Holden spun a six-game series of 960, which also fell short of the cut. Her high game of the day was 191, and her effort landed her in 36th place on the day.
Josh Groff totaled 1,072 for his series, but he also fell short of the cut, which was placed at 1,210. Included in his six games were scores of 215 and 211.
Sturgis coach Scott Spahr kept his comments brief by saying “And so the season ends. It was a great effort by all three of the bowlers today.”
