By Ron Rop
Local Sports Journal
Dreams of capturing a state singles bowling title ended for three Mona Shores bowlers on Saturday morning at Northway Lanes.
Hunter Carlson in the boys side of the tournament along with Alex Beall and Ashley Cory on the girls side did not make it into the top 16. The top 16 bowlers through qualifying (6 games) moved into the next round of match play.
Hunter Carlson finished 38th among the 60 individual bowlers on the boys side.
Carlson had games of 210-129-183-190-224-181 for a 1,117. The cutoff to get into the top 16 was a 1,217 (203 average).
“He could never climb the hill after that (129 game),” Mona Shores coach Greg Schmeling said. “A 140 is not bad or a 150, but a 120 is not good. It’s almost like the kiss of death right there.”
Brad Wozniak from Traverse City Central finished first in qualifying with a 1,274.
Beall finished 37th in the girls singles qualifying round. Her six scores were 145-205-206-198-175-170 for a total of 1,099.
“Alex dug herself a hole with a 145 game, but then she bounced right back and shot a 600 in the next three, so she was still in it,” Schmeling said. “She was digging herself out, but the cut number just stayed right there. You always kid of hope the cut drops a little bit, but it never did.”
Cory finished with a 164-158-177-179-179-201 for a 1,058 total.
The cutoff in the girls qualifying was 1,174 (196 average).
“That’s huge, but there are a lot of good bowlers on the eastern side of the state,” Schmeling said. “Typically, you’ll see the cutline start to tank or bottom out a little bit, and it never did. It just stayed right there.”
Finishing first in the qualifying round for girls was Brooke Wood from Davison with a 1,256. Her teammate, Heather Baur, had 1,255.
