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B.V. Lanes roll to B.C. Interior win

A Fruitvale contingent claimed a top spot at the 68th annual B.C. Interior Five Pin Bowling championship in Kamloops last weekend.

A Fruitvale contingent from the Beaver Valley Lanes claimed top spot in the B division at the 68th annual B.C. Interior Five Pin Bowling championship in Kamloops last weekend.

Six men and six women competed in Mens, Women’s, and Mixed categories at the venerable event, taking top spot in two-of-three categories on their way to the Aggregate B championship.

“It’s been a long time since we’ve been a really strong centre, so it’s nice to see that the centre is starting to roll again,” said team coach Brandon Racette, who usually bowls in the competition but a shoulder injury kept him sidelined.

The women’s team comprised of Donna Racette, Anne Grieve, Lori Bakken, Amber Bouliane, Krystal Sneddon, and Charlene Weir bowled their way to first place in the Ladies division with an eight-game total score of 7,925, beating out Chase by 128 pins.

The Men’s team made up of Larry Racette, Dwight Visser, Jason Hood, Steve Pargeter, Rick Hammond, and Carson Eriksen finished second to North Kamloops with an 8,554 total to N. Kamloops’ 9,003.

“If our Men’s team had bowled to what we were capable of we would have won the whole thing,” said Eriksen, a veteran member of the team.

The B.V. Ladies bowlers, among the youngest competing, teamed up with the Men’s squad to win the Mixed competition as well. The Mixed squads are made up of five of the top bowlers, with three men and two women, or vice versa, in addition to a spare.

“You make one substitution per game per gender, so if you have someone struggling, say in the third or fourth frame they throw a bad ball, somebody can come in and rescue the game,” said Racette.

Led by Pargeter, the Mixed squad took a measure of revenge over N. Kamloops with an 8,559 to 8,301 victory.

Pargeter finished the Mixed match with an excellent 261 average, finishing second for High Blocks Open with 1,176 and fourth in High Singles game with a 361.

“He had a hell of a day,” said Brandon. “That’s pretty damn good. It’s a tough tournament, you get lots of sleep deprivation, but his second day was incredible.”

When all the numbers were tallied, Fruitvale came away with the Aggregate trophy, with a combined score of 25,028, beating out N. Kamloops by 676 pins.

Larry Racette had the Men’s high average of 249 making the All-Star team, while Hood had third highest single-game score of 368, and came fourth in Rookie High Blocks with 971.

The Beaver Valley Lanes team finished the event with the fifth highest score of the 18 teams in the A and the B divisions combined, so their success will mean that the team will move up into the A division next year.

Glenmerry Bowls contingent from Trail finished sixth overall in the A division. Vernon claimed top prize in the A event with 26,459 pins.