The Wayland girls’ varsity bowling team finished third in the Division 2 regional tournament Saturday, but the “Continental Curse” and Covid-19 are keeping them from entry in the state competition.

Coach Eric Bottrall explained that in a typical year the top three teams travel on to the state tournament. But this year only two teams get to move on from Continental Lanes in Kalamazoo.

“We finally got a third place finish for our school and community, missing second place by just 23 pins… heartbreaking. We have had some superb teams in the past who were talented enough to win it, but always came up short with a fourth-place finish.”

(The last team to make it was in 2011 with Abbie Kramer and Chelsea Marcus)

However, two of the ladies qualified for the state tournament in singles competition, where the top ten girls in the field move on.

Wildcat senior Bella Harnish finished one spot better than last year.

“She had a lot of excellent shots on the pocket and got tapped, which means a really good ball in the pocket that leaves just one pin. Her scores were: 186, 152, 200 and 201.

Sophomore Kadence Bottrall took first place by a wide margin with scores of 202, 268, 214 and 236, finishing 116 pins better than the runner-up. In games two and four, she started with the first seven strikes.

“It was so exciting,” said boys’ coach Sherry Miklusicak. “Her scores topped any Division II male bowler in the entire State of Michigan from Friday. We can’t really compare her scores to previous years as the usual number of games bowled is six, but I am very confident no female bowler from Wayland has ever averaged 230!”