The Wildcat boys, though young and inexperienced, continued to improve by taking seventh.

The girls have been runner-up three times and won one tourney thus far.

“There hasn’t been a tournament we have bowling in that we have finished lower than second place,” said coach Sherry Miklusicak.

In individual games, Marissa Bruinsslot knocked out 182 + 177 = 359, while Erin Porteous rolled 170 + 172 = 342, and Sydney Urben pounded the pins for a 199 + 177 = 376.

The ladies found themselves in third place at this point after individual games.

Baker scores were 126 + 147 + 127 + 146 + 163 + 172.

“The first three games caused us to slip to fourth place,” Miklusicak explained. “The disadvantage to finishing first in this tournament is waiting for the two-game head to head Baker step-ladder finals. I was okay with finishing fourth, but now a little work needed to happen.”

Wayland defeated Hudsonville Unity Christian 305–235 and had to face number three qualifier Jenison. The final score was 331-296 with Wayland in charge.

Next up was No. 2 Hudsonville for a close set of games. Wayland was down by just two pins going into the second game.

“We were feeling pretty confident we would take it going into the tenth frame with Sydney up. She rolled a pretty decent ball into the pocket – uh oh SPLIT and Hudsonville marks!

“My father (volunteer assistant Frank Rybiski) and I and a few other people were adding in our heads and as Sydney stepped up we got her attention by telling her she needed just one – (In our minds we wanted to make sure she wasn’t going to go for it and try to pick it up).

“Next came a very memorable moment – kind of where the bowler teaches the crowd… Sydney, looking very irritated, turned slowly around and deeply muttered, ‘I am aware!’”

She picked it up and Wayland advanced to the finals by one pin.

With Caledonia finishing first. The Lady Wildcats felt it was time to get a little revenge from their last tournament when they sat in first place. However, a few splits and a few opens in the first game along with a 190 by Caledonia in the second Baker game sealed their fate.

The boys, meanwhile, proved to be a bit more competitive than they had in other tournaments this year. After two sets of individual games, the Wildcats found themselves in eighth place out of 12 teams. Stroking the ball well in individual matches were Bryan Franck 183 + 212 = 395 and Dillon Smith 198 + 171 = 369. Bryan Franck missed qualifying in individuals by just two marks. Christian Courser also contributed a 180 game after struggling in practice the day beforer.

“Christian is such a great kid to coach as he listens to suggestions and follows through on them with a positive attitude,” the coach observed. “I was a bit nervous to put him in the second set. I sat down next to him and explained what he was struggling with Friday and told him what he needed to fix.”

Wayland at that point was in eighth place, only 43 pins behind seventh.

Next came the six Baker games.

“Inconsistency could describe the afternoon, but we gathered enough points to take over seventh to end the day,” Miklusicak said.

The Baker games consisted of 144 – 194 – 128 – 212 – 171 – and 134.

“Unfortunately, there were four open 10th frames and that hurt us,” the coach noted.

Michael Foley and Dillon Smith marked in eight of their 10 frames and Miklusicak said will share the anchor position permanently.

PHOTOS: Dillon Smith

Bryan Franck