The Wayland girls’ varsity bowling team finished second in the Pre-conference Tournament Saturday at Spectrum Lanes and the Wildcat boys finished a respectable third.

“The slow start in the first individual game proved to be too much to overcome,” explained girls’ coach Bill Holbrook.

Sophomore Marissa Bruinsslot paced the Lady Wildcats with a 173 and was the only bowler over average. A dismal 727 was all the team could manage.

They righted the ship quickly the second individual game and fired an 862. Leading the way was junior Alicia Sweeney with a 212. Sophomore Sydney Urben (181) and junior Erin Porteous (163) also were key contributors. It was a new record team high individual game.

The girls followed up with another strong game  the third time around, shooting an 821. Leading the way was Sweeney (199) and Urben (194). A strong second and third game closed the gap with Unity Christian to 27 pins.

The Lady Wildcats began their set of three baker games with a solid 162 game and closed the deficit to 16 pins. Unfortunately that was as close as they would get as they fell of their last two baker games shooting 135 and 151.

Sweeney was second on the all-tournament team with a two-game total of 411. Urben was third (375) Bruinsslot was sixth (324) and Senior Lizzy Cobb finished tied for 10th (303)

“Though we came up short of our goal today, the ladies proved they could rebound from a slow start,” Holbrook said. “This team has shown a willingness to fight to the very end of every game. We are still no where near converting spares the way we should be, but the intensity, fight and desire is there.

“When the spare shooting gets to where it should be, I think they will even surprise themselves with what they can do. We had solid contributions today from seven bowlers.”

Wayland boys, meanwhile, earned a conference point for their efforts.

“The team started out pretty rough in the first of the three regular games and missed too many spares.,” said coach Sherry Miklusicak. “Our bright spot in game one was Michael Foley’s 199 game.  Austen Beggs got it together in game two with a 200 game.

“As a team, Wayland did very well in the first two baker games with scores of 194 and 189.  Our focus is still spare shooting — particularly single pin spares.

In individual scoring, the best two out of three games were used. Beggs qualified for seventh as awards were given to the top ten bowlers.

Next up will be a home match vs Wyoming Wednesday starting at 3:30 p.m.

“Come check them out,” Holbrook said. “You won’t be disappointed.”

PHOTO: All-tournament medalists for the Lady Wildcats (from left) sophomore Marissa Bruinsslot, sophomore Sydney Urben and junior Alicia Sweeney.