The Wayland varsity boys’ bowling team captured the fourth seed in the 18-team Zeeland Invitational Saturday.

The Wildcats got off to a good start by winning eight of ten group Baker games.They faced Unity Christian (posting a score of 188), Sturgis (162), Portland (161), Muskegon (159), Northview (185), Mona Shores (200), Grand Haven (201), Zeeland B (195), Forest Hills Central (107), and Belding (168).

“We only lost to Grand Haven (by only one pin) and Forest Hills Central (we only had a 107),” explained coach Sherry Miklusicak. “After the first five Baker games, we were in second place and after that ‘whopping’ 107, we still found ourselves in a very respectable fourth place.”

In this tournament’s format, every team moves on to head -to-head Baker games, but first the field of 18 teams needed to be narrowed down to 16. The last four teams had two Baker playoffs to determine 15th and 16th place. Then first place bowled 16th place, second bowled 15th and so on.

Wayland had finished in fourth place to take on No. 13 Unity Christian. The total pins from each set of Baker games determined who moved on. We defeated Unity Christian 148-137 and 184-137. So they moved on to the next round and faced a team they had beaten earlier that morning.

“Unfortunately, they bowled well and we bowled poorly and our day ended,” Miklusicak said. “The boys did a very good job today and I am proud of them and their performance. We wished we could have kept bowling but all in all we did have a lot of fun!”