It was two wildly different days Monday for the Wayland High School bowling teams.
The boys waltzed to victory over Grand Rapids Catholic Central to cement their third place hold on the O-K Gold Conference standings. However, the girls’ chances of repeating as Gold champions are in jeopardy after an upset defeat at the hands of the Cougars.
“We lost today to a team we didn’t expect to beat us,” said coach Eric Bottrall. “As a team, we average 100 pins a game better.”
It started in Baker game one. One Catholic got hot with a 208 game to Wayland’s 163. They then lost the second Baker as well, only able to muster a 134 game and trailed 10-0.
But game one was lost by five pins. One spare. One individual match lost by 10 pins. One spare. Another match was lost by seven pins. One Spare.
“That just shows how close the match was and unfortunately Catholic Central found a hot streak against us,” the coach added.
Veterans Bella Isabella Harnish (201) and Kadence Bottrall (172) took the lone points
The Lady Wildcats fought hard in match two, taking 10 of the next 11 points, but it wouldn’t be enough to take the match. Catholic won 18-12.
Breanna Hyde took her point, 161 to 155. One spare. Exchange Student Julia Guenther, who had never bowled before this year, had a 188 game with a split in the tenth frame. She definitely took her point! Senior Bella Isabella Harnish rolled a 211.
The high game of the entire night for either boys or girls was Kadence Bottrall with an incredible 256 game.
The Lady Wildcats are now 15-3 overall for the season and they and the guys will roll this Saturday at the O-K Gold Conference tournament at Spectrum Lanes.
The boys had a good time, meanwhile, taking a 27-3 victory.
“It was a close one when we faced each other at Rock ‘N Bowl (earlier in the season),” said coach Sherry Miklusicak. “We were readying ourselves for an all-out ‘cat’ fight! Unfortunately for Catholic Central, they were short a bowler and that put us in a more comfortable position.
“The beginning of the first Baker game was scary, as three out of the first five frames were splits! The positive part of that is at least we were hitting the headpin.”
The Wildcat boys found a series of strikes in the 8th, 9th, and 10th frames to claim the match with a 165-129 game. Baker game two was 188 to 101.
“It was the last regular season match for our seniors,” Miklusicak said. “Mark Musgrave has been with me for four years (as well as a little volunteer stint when he was at St. Therese School as well). He marked in 3 of 4 frames, as did Chandler Caruso and Stephen Harnish.”
But the star of the Baker games was freshman Kyle VanEss with 3 strikes and a spare in his four appearances.
Catholic posted a couple of big scores in match one, but being a bowler short proved to be the Cougars’ demise. Senior Carson Beck took his point with a 144 game. Chandler Caruso rolled a fine 214 game. Stephen Harnish finished up with a 164.
Wayland took three points and total as well with the help of Mark Musgrave III and Kyle VanEss with total pins of 804 to 745.
Catholic then lost some steam into the last game of the afternoon, but Wayland did not. Mark Musgrave III took his point in the last actual match of his high school career, as did fellow senior Carson Beck. Stephen Harnish had a 188.
The story of the afternoon was all Junior Chandler Caruso as he rocked the pocket and annihilated the pins with his 240 game (averaged 227 today giving the ‘Cats total pins of 852 to Catholic’s 672.
