The Wayland High School girls’ varsity bowling team captured the O-K Gold/Green Conference tournament championship Saturday, edging Zeeland by 12 pins. The Lady Wildcats, coached by Sherry Miklusicak and Bill Holbrook, exacted revenge on a combined Zeeland squad that was the only outfit this season to beat the, twice in dual matches. The Lady ‘Cats, ranked No. 5 in the state in Division 2, last year had to settle for a co-championship.

The ladies started of the day with individual competition instead of baker games.

In the first individual, Wayland rolled an 861. The next went down quite a bit with a 765. The final one was an 813.
High scores of the individuals were:
• Senior Captain Alicia Sweeney with a 237 + 168 + 215 = 620, which set her at second place on the all tournament team.
• Junior Captain Sydney Urben also rolled out a third spot on the tournament team with a 150 + 204 + 179 = 533.
Other contributing scores of individuals were:
• Senior Erin Porteous with a 168 + 131 + 163 = 462.
• Junior Captain Marissa BruinsSlot with a 129 + 158 + 163 = 450.
• Sophomore Amber Beggs bowled a 177.
Zeeland was trailing behind the Lady Wildcats at this point.
“We knew we couldn’t let ourselves drop when we started bakers,” said BruinSlot. “After our first of 152, we knew we had to pick up the pace as The Dux/Chix thought they could catch up.
199 was our next hot baker game, as we showed everybody what we had.”
Their third baker dropped to a 117, but we soon corrected with a well-needed 172.

“At that point we had most of the parents and team doing the math as we anticipated Zeeland’s finish,” BruinSlot said. “If everybody’s math was correct, we had won!
And that is what we did. Bringing home a split conference win without even bowling our best.

“I am extremely proud that we are a strong team even when we don’t bowl the best.”

The Lady ‘Cats will roll against Vicksburg today in a non-league matchup.

(Photo courtesy of Tony Banas)