While the majority of students across Michigan were enjoying their snow day Thursday and school Friday, the boys on the varsity bowling team were spending both days bowling at the regional bowling tournament at Westgate Lanes. Bowling regionals are split into two days; one day is dedicated to team games and the other is for individuals.

The first day of regionals [Thursday] was team games. Due to poor road conditions, the tournament was postponed to a later time of 10:30 a.m. when it was supposed to begin at 8 a.m. For the bowlers, it was nice to sleep in. In order to have your team qualify for states, your team must earn a top three placement and sadly out of the 17 teams, the boys placed 10th.

During the baker game portion of team bowling regionals, the boys bowled on average. They were hoping to make it to states but in order to do so, they desperately needed to get a high pin count during baker games. Unfortunately, they did not as they scored 143 in their first baker game, 153 in their second, 149 in the third, 140 in the fourth, 152 in the fifth, 154 in the sixth, 206 in the seventh, and finally 125 in the eighth and final baker game. The boy’s baker game total was 1222 pins. To wrap the day up and conclude the team bowling companion, they played two regular games. The five bowlers competing in the first game were Owen Milanowksi, Luke Stiles, Wes Baldwin, Peyton Price, and Collin Kirkman. Owen bowled 196, Luke 151, Wes 148, Peyton 164, and Collin 176. They weren’t playing against an opponent, they were just playing against themselves to score the highest they can because it contributes to their overall team score. They ended up with a total pin count of 835 which was average compared to the other teams. In game two, Collin was subbed out and Carter Lyons went in for his spot. Owen bowled 141, Carter 166, Luke 214, Wes 181, and Peyton 173, resulting in a pin count total of 875. Their grand total was 2932 pins for the day landing them a tenth-place finish.

Heading into the second and final day of regionals, the boys were hoping for some success. Out of all the bowlers on the team, there were three bowlers who had the potential to qualify for states: Luke Stiles, Wes Baldwin, and Peyton Price. Out of those three, Wes Baldwin was the bowler who performed the best out of the entire team during individual games as he placed thirty-ninth out of 101 bowlers with a six-game series of 967. Wes’s best game was a 225.

“I had a couple of good games at regionals but I did not play well at all. I wasn’t able to find a line or shot that I could stick with. I had to keep changing things ad could never get a roll,” Wes said.

All three bowlers were off for the most part and couldn’t catch a break. Luke Stiles placed 61 with a series of 905 pins. In his best game, he scored 196. Peyton Price had an extremely rough day. Throughout the entire season, he was the team’s fifth bowler and everyone in the conference knows his skill as a bowler. As he has been on varsity all four years of his high school career, the majority of all bowlers already knew who he was. His performance shocked a lot of people as he did not bowl his best. This wasn’t due to being off as his thumb was swollen and deformed which took away his chances of bowling normally. He had to bowl two-handed, which he isn’t used to at all as he normally bowls one-handed. Despite Peyton being a gifted bowler, that did not show during this tournament as he placed eighty-ninth with a series of 817. For reference, last year Peyton placed twenty-ninth. As for the rest of the bowlers, Carter placed sixty-sixth with a series of 894, Owen seventy-fifth with an 870 series, and Chris placed ninety-third with a series of 770.

Overall, neither the team nor any of the bowlers qualified for states. The team was sad and so were the bowlers who had the potential to be. This tournament sadly concludes the 2023 bowling season.