Coming off impressive victories over Flint Metro League opponents over the past few weeks, the Varsity Bowling team was riding high heading into this weekend’s Oakland County Tournament.
However, the Wildcats didn’t perform at their highest level, and both teams walked away disappointed with their results.
The girls were able to make it past the qualifying round on the first day of the tournament. After the first round, the girls were second overall with a 898. Senior Kelly Cartner led off with a 204 game and senior Chantle Vandervoort followed with a 190.
The girls couldn’t match the effort in game two, bowling a 812 total with senior Sarah Decker’s game high 188. They were able to recover in the third game, bowling a 916 and finishing fifth overall heading into the final four baker games. They were led by sophomore Heather Lafnear’s 224 and Cartner’s 212.
The girls moved up to third overall after baker games of 223,221, 194 and 160.
They faced a South Lyon team that squeaked into the field of 16 in the opening round. They wound up losing 362-336.
Head Coach JR Lafnear said that the girls let a couple of bad breaks get into their head, but he said that ‘this will be a good learning experience for them.?
The boys were a different story.
They finished 25 out of 31 teams and had no one in the top 60.
According to Lafnear, they started out slow and found themselves in decent shape after the first two games. In the third game, they were never able to get going and failed to make it out of the qualifying round.
Senior Brandon Wynkoop led the Wildcats with games of 214, 178, 204, and 198. Senior Sean LeBlanc had games of 196 and 198, while junior John Garza bowled 195 and 198.
‘We had teams good enough to compete on both days and we didn’t,? said Lafnear. ‘This weekend shows how mentally tough you have to be to compete at a high level and we weren’t tough enough.?
The teams have first place on the line in the FML when they battle Flint Kearsley on Wednesday, Jan. 27 at the Town and Country Lanes in Flint beginning at 6 p.m.