Greater Trail’s junior bowlers booked their way into provincial and national competitions with great results in zone and provincial playdowns recently.
At the Kootenay Zone Playdowns of BC Bowl’s 4 Steps to Stardom last month, Glenmerry Bowl’s Devon Fulton took gold in the senior boys category and Fruitvale’s Connor Cromarty of Beaver Valley Lanes won top spot in Bantam boys. The pair will lead the singles team to the five-pin provincials in Abbotsford and Chilliwack Mar. 1.
The team is rounded out by Bantam girls gold-medalist Averi Handley, Jr. boys winner Simon Laroque, Jr. Girls champions Ella Handley, and Senior girls winner Shayla Medeiros, all of Castlegar’s Castle Bowl.
Only the gold-medalists qualify for the provincials, however, many Glenmerry Bowlers came close. Trail’s Spencer Simister missed out on gold by just seven pins, winning silver in Bantam boys, with Beaver Valley’s Jordan Bakken claiming bronze. In Bantam girls, Taylor Servatius claimed second as did Mitchell Isenor who finished just five pins back of Laroque in Jr. boys. Eliza Dawson won silver in Jr. girls, while McLean Keraiff finished just behind Dawson, and Jacob Plett took bronze in Sr. boys.
But Plett would later have an incredible showing at the Youth Bowling Challenge in Port Coquitlam last week, a scratch tournament open to bowlers 13-18 years old.
After eight games, the 16-year-old Trail bowler won silver, rolling a total score of 2080 and a 263 average, just 26 pins behind the first-place finisher Brett Mero of Quesnel who finished with a 263 average. The second-place finish qualifies Plett for the B.C. team that will compete at the National Five-Pin Youth Bowling championship in Hamilton, Ont. Mar. 27-30. The top three shooters from both the male and female competitions made the team.
Plett was consistent, throwing a high of 312 in his fourth game, while maintaining a top competitive average. Third-place finisher Michael Dicks tossed a tournament high 408 in one game, and female champion Dakota Heth of Port Coquitlam dealt a 403 on her way to gold and an eight-game total of 2,226.
“Those are extremely high scores for kids in that age bracket,” said Glenmerry Bowl coach Ron Sandnes. “That’s a scratch tournament so that’s for the higher kids in the province that want to try out for the B.C. Team.”
The only other Glenmerry Bowler to make Team B.C. At the Youth Bowling Challenge was Tim Flack four years ago.
Plett, Merlo, and Dicks will join Heth, second place female finisher Kylie Herman also of Port Coquitlam Bowl, and bronze medalist Tiana Tecson of Prince George on Team B.C.
The Kootenay Zone playdowns for the Team portion of 4 Steps to Stardom will be held at Glenmerry Bowl in Trail on Feb. 8-9.
The provincials will then go in Abbotsford and Chilliwack on Mar. 1 with the Nationals championship in Winnipeg from May 3-5.