By Jason Wesseldyk
Sports Editor
WYOMING—The Allegan bowling teams co-hosted a post-Christmas tournament with South Haven at Spectrum Lanes in Wyoming on Monday, Dec. 26.
And the results couldn’t have been much better for the Allegan girls.
After finishing the qualifying round—with consisted of two regular games and six baker games—seeded first, the Tigers were one of four teams to advance to the head-to-head bracket play that consisted of a best-two-of-three-baker-games format. Allegan topped fourth-seed Niles and then second-seed West Catholic to emerge as the champions.
On the boys side, the Tigers placed fourth, with Wayland taking the top spot.
“As coaches, today made us so proud to not only see the girls win, but also the boys team step up and be competitive like they were,” Allegan co-coach Don Lamb said. “The kids will enjoy the holiday break then pick back up against Parchment at Eastland Lanes to continue their SAC play.”
In the head-to-head match with West Catholic, the Allegan girls won 165-91 and 117-110. That followed a tough semifinal match against Niles that saw the Tigers drop game one 123-121 before bouncing back with wins of 160-153 and 129-100.
The qualifying round saw Allegan post scores of 784 and 797 in the regular games. Leah Snyder led the way, with a 267 in the second game, putting her one pin off the school record. Audrey Brink and Rainah Spohn had a 179 and 177, respectively, in game one.
Allegan had bakes games of 175, 140, 154, 123, 128, and 138.
Individually, Snyder’s 422 series topped all competitors. Spohn was sixth at 336 and Brink was eighth at 295.
On the boys side, Allegan finished the qualifying round seeded third, while Wayland was seeded second. That meant the two county rivals would square off in the opening round of bracket play.
Allegan led early in the first baker game before Wayland stormed back to win 200-198. The Wildcats maintained that momentum in the second game to win 164-137.
Wayland faced St. Charles in the finals, dropping game one 184-179. But the Wildcats regrouped to post scores of 174 and 165 in the next two games, which was good enough for the wins.
In the qualifying round, Wayland had a tournament-best 902 in the first regular game, led by a 236 by Chandler Caruso. Kyle VanEss led the Wildcats with a 177 in the second regular game.
Allegan, meanwhile, had scores of 818 and 749 in the regular games. Anderson Zoch had a 203 in game one, with Aidan Letts posting a 173 in game two.
Caruso had a two-game total of 392 to place fourth individually, while Zoch and Andrew Snyder each had a 346 series to tie for Allegan’s best showing at 12th.