Bowlers roll for a chance at titles
by Angie Asam, Staff Writer
Over the weekend the Huron bowling teams qualified for the state finals after good performances at regionals in Traverse City. The girls? team finished first at regionals with a score of 3,320. ?The girls get a great job. They were really consistent; the only had one low baker game. They were in the lead after the baker games by like 40 pins and after the first regular game were ahead by 150 pins and never looked back to end up winning by almost 200 pins,? said coach Brian Bannasch.
In finishing first at regionals the girls? team will now travel to Sterling Heights to participate in the state finals on Friday. ?As long as they can bowl like they did in regionals and the key is to make it to the next round. The key is making the next round until you get to the final eight and then you never know what can happen,? said coach Bannasch about what the girls need to do at the state finals.
In addition to the team qualifying, three individuals also qualified for the individual tournament, which will take place on Saturday in Sterling Heights. Junior Katie Darga qualified first out of the region with a total of 1,088. Katie Darga rolled scores of 175, 188, 126, 192, 225 and 182 in route to her regional title. Darga will be making her third straight appearance at the state finals where last year she just missed being in the round of 16. Senior Tayler Bannasch will also return to the state finals as she finished third in the region with 1,034 (219, 165, 136, 183, 182 and 149). Joining them on the trip to the individual state finals is freshman Ashley Budnik who finished sixth in the region at 989 (160, 171, 178, 163, 160 and 157).
?Katie and Tayler are back, both bowled real well at regionals. Both of them just missed the top 16 at state last year. With those two I think it is just avoiding the bad game. Saturday they both had a slow start in the third game and got a little dejected, if they can avoid that and getting down on themselves they will be all set. It?s been a while since we have even had a freshman participate in the regionals, it will be quite an experience for Ashley and if she bowls like she did Saturday she could break the top 16,? said coach Bannasch. Anna Lehman finished 12th, missing the top 10 by just 37 pins at 872 (149, 124, 110, 163, 180 and 146). Brogan Brege was 22nd at 776 (132, 138, 98, 164, 119 and 125) and Misty Curtis was 41st at 696 (113, 100, 129, 124, 120 and 110). THE BOYS? TEAM qualified for the state finals as they finished second at regionals behind defending state champions in Iron Mountain.
?The last two years Iron Mountain has been at the state finals and they are the reigning state champions. When we got there I talked to the coach and said I saw a few familiar faces from last year, he informed me all of them. He only lost one bowler off last year?s team. They beat us by 200 pins, which over the course of the day 200 pins isn?t much,? said coach Bannasch. Junior Robert Dietlin will be the lone Huron boy participating in the individual state finals as he finished second with 1,244 rolling scores of 224, 198, 188, 202, 235 and 197.
?Robert bowled good the whole day and was only a few pins behind the first place winner. Last year he just missed the top 16 and this year I think he will crack into the top 16,? said coach Bannasch. Senior Tony Bannasch, who would have qualified in sixth place, relinquished his chance to participate due to a conflict with an event as a member of the Rogers City High School band. Tom Darga finished 19th at 1,055 (176, 158, 192, 179, 171 and 179), Travis Smolinski was 25th at 1,020 (139, 168, 168, 190, 177 and 178), Ken Wirgau was 29th at 1,009 (153, 169, 190, 155, 147 and 195) and Alex Lemmon was 33rd at 984 (135, 143, 148, 166, 192 and 200).