Hurons strike it rich! Bowlers qualify for state tournament

The boys? bowling team wiped up the alleys in regional play at Gaylord Saturday, beating Traverse City St. Francis 4372-3912, and claiming first place in the Class C division. Other teams going to state are AuGres Sims (3652) and Baldwin (3477). The girls, not to be outdone, came on strong as well, placing a strong second place with 3114 pins to Ewen Trout Creek?s first place, 3172 score in the Class C division. Other teams going to state include Baldwin (2654) and Traverse City St. Francis (2009). The state finals, will be played Friday and Saturday at Sunnybrook Lanes in Sterling Heights.

?BOTH TEAMS ? the boys and the girls ? bowled exceptionally well?I?m proud of both of them,? said coach Brian Bannasch. ?Now the key is to continue into this weekend and repeat those efforts.? There?s one thing about perfection, it rarely occurs when needed, but Nathan Darga came about as close to perfect as possible with his 296 game, bowled during the second team game for his 198-296-228 (722) series. The Hurons will be sending a boys? team consisting of Nathan Darga, Travis Poch, Jake Bellmore, Ben Basel, Travis Hincka, Rick Adams, Matt Darga, Dave Talaske, and Stuart Hamp to the state finals.

Both Nathan Darga, second (891) and Poch, sixth (769) also qualified as the top seven individuals. The girls? team will consist of Kari Rhode, Megan Darga, Heather Kowalski, Heather Vogelheim, Alicia Lamb, Valery Pike, Amanda Minton, and Kristyn Blackmer. Bannasch and assistant coach Tony Darga coach both teams. The teams for both boys and girls will consist of five bowlers with free substitutions allowed. The girls also qualified three as the top seven individuals, with Rhode second (643), Minton fourth (614) and Kowalski sixth (597).

IN THE BOYS? match Nathan Darga led the team with his 722 series in the regular games, while teammate Bellmore followed suit with a 204, 216, 233 (653) series. Basel contributed games of 190, 215, 196 (601), and Hincka had 167, 257, 159 (583), while Poch added a 219, 167, 174 (560) series. The boys had 3119 in the regular games and added 1253 in the Baker format games for their total 4372 match total and first place finish.

IN THE GIRLS? match, Lamb led the team in the regular games, 126, 222, 163 (511) followed by Kowalski with 176, 173, 161 (510), and Rhode with 137, 192, 133 (462). Vogelheim contributed a 129, 132, 165 (426) series, and Megan Darga added 132, 133, 111 (376) for the 2285 regular game total. The girls had 829 points in the Baker format for the

3114 match total and second place finish. How will the Hurons stand up under the pressure of other district scores? In the Northern Class C-D results, only Sandusky outscored the Huron boys out of 16 qualifying teams with 4465 to the Hurons 4372. The Hurons are in the ballpark and only need to put on their best effort and ?go for it.? In the girls? results, only three teams, Sandusky (3534), Freeland (3180) and Ewen Trout Creek (3172) out of the 16 qualifying teams outdid the Huron effort (3114) with a 420-pin spread. That?s only 21 pins per girl per game over a four-game series, a doable effort for Huron power.

A FULL DAY of bowling in qualifying matches awaits the Hurons on Friday, beginning at 7:30 a.m. check-in. Award ceremonies are planned at 5 p.m. for the singles schedule; team events will be Saturday beginning at 7 a.m. The boys will line up against Center Line St. Clement in match one in a round of 16 teams before quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals all in the same day. The girls will be pitted against Memphis in match eight in the first round of 16 teams.