By Jason Wesseldyk
Sports Editor
ROCKFORD—Talk about starting strong.
In its first game at the Rockford Invitational on Saturday, Jan. 29, the Allegan boys bowling team posted a 1,062 to set a new school record by seven pins. Andrew Snyder (249), Trenton Nagelkirk (236), Shane Wesche (199), Carter Wagner (197) and Ryan Brink (181) combined for that score.
The Tigers went finish third overall, falling to the host team in the semifinals.
The Allegan girls placed fifth overall.
After their record-setting effort to start the tournament, the Allegan boys posted a score of 891 in its second game—led by a 216 for Snyder—before putting together baker games of 223, 215, 176 and 179 for a total of 2,749 to earn the third seed heading to head-to-head play.
In its first head-to-head match, Allegan beat Caledonia 177-128 and 205-177. That advanced the Tigers to the semifinals, where they fell to second-seeded Rockford 206-154 and 214-194.
Snyder placed fifth individually with a 465 two-game set.
In its seeding round, the Allegan girls had games of 816 and 753. Leah Snyder (201), Harleigh Wesche (168) and Audrey Brink (160) led the way in game one, Harleigh Wesche (186) and Rainah Spohn (160) posting the team’s top scores in game two.
In the baker games, the Tigers had 140, 140, 180 and 132 for a total of 2,161, which was good for the second seed. That was good for the No. 2 seed heading to match play.
Losses of 194-180 and 148-143 against East Kentwood ended the Tigers’ day with a fifth-place finish.
Individual honors for the singles scores were Harleigh Wesche in fifth place with a 354 and Leah Snyder in eighth place with a 334.
A day earlier, the Tigers hosted South Haven at Sunset Lanes, with the boys winning 30-0 and the girls winning 27-3.
For the boys, Allegan won game one 881-632 and 1,003-720. Baker games went to Allegan 171-121 and 167-112.
Nagelkirk had a 243 in game one, followed by Ryan Brink with a 212. Nagelkirk also led the way in game two with a 224, with Shane Wesche (217) and Carter Wagner (213) also topping 200.
The Allegan girls won game one 752-698 and game two 857-696. The Tigers also swept the baker games 156-123 and 182-160.
Top performers for Allegan in game one included Spohn (178) and Leah Snyder (165). Leah Snyder had a 236 in game two, with Savannah Beilfuss checking in at 170.
Both Allegan teams improved to 7-1 overall with the victories over the Rams.