CNO Sports Department
Versailles Bowling - Boys, Girls & Junior Varsity Compete 
December  6,  2011 

Versailles Boys Varsity Bowlers compete in Ohio Classic Tournament 

The Boys Varsity Bowling team traveled to the 64 Lane Palace Lanes in Columbus on Saturday, December 3rd to compete in the Ohio Invitational Kickoff Classic. This is the largest High School Bowling Team Tournament in the United States.  They were competing with the best teams in the State of Ohio based on last year’s achievements. There were 32 boys teams and 32 girls teams competing. Out of the 32 boys teams, 5 qualified out of the WOHSBC, which goes to show you how competitive our conference is. 

The format was 3 games of regular bowling and then each division was cut to the top 16 teams based on total pinfall. The oil pattern was a 4 to 1 oil ratio, which was to make the lanes challenging to the bowlers, but not impossible. Here is the list of the 32 teams that competed in this year’s event starting with WOHSBC teams: Versailles, Coldwater, Wapakoneta, St. Marys, St. Henry, Fiarport Harding, Kettering Fairmont, Chillicothe, Centerville, Boardman, Beavercreek, St. Xavier, Zane Trace, Troy, Urbana, Nordonia, Struthers, Northwest, Butler, Milford, Newark, Fairborn, Greenon, Austintown Fitch, Buckeye, Zanesville, Jonathan Alder, Westerville South, Elder, Kenton Ridge, Westerville central, Loncoln and Carroll. 

The Tigers started off strong on the demanding lane condition rolling a 934 led by Nathan Peters with a 203. Their second game they kept right in it by knocking down 907 pins which was led by Michael Davidson’s 223. “Although we did not have running totals of all of the teams scores due to the tournament director’s decision to keep this from all of the teams for some unknown reason, I thought we were in good shape going into game 3. 

We just needed to keep grinding out this tougher lane condition for 1 more game.” Finishing with and 881 for the last game, the Tigers ended up with a 3 game total of 2,722. The wait was now on to see if that was enough to make the cut to the Best 3 of 5 baker game match play. Top 3 bowlers for the day were Nathan Peters (617), Michael Davidson (575) and Aaron Niekamp (555). 

The Tigers ended up qualifying in 10th position out of 32 teams making the cut score by about 70 pins. With the 10th qualifying position, they were to bowl the 7th seeded team, Beavercreek. This was a Baker format best 3 out of 5 games. Versailles came out strong rolling a 205 game but it was not enough as Beavercreek rolled an impressive 224. Beavercreek continued their hot hands by rolling games of 206 and 203 to the Tigers 170 and 158. “I really liked our chances going into the Championship round due to the depth of our team and how well we typically bowl in the Baker games. We had our chances the 1st two games, but could just not make it happen. These boys bowled great once again as a team and I am proud of their finish bowling this tournament for the first time ever.” 

The tournament was won by Troy who defeated Zane Trace in 4 Baker games. Beavercreek and Wapakoneta ended up rounding out the top 4 places. The Tigers resume Conference action Tuesday night in Celina against Lima Catholic Central and Saturday in Wapakoneta competing against the Tigers from Ansonia. 

Versailles won the first game 935 pins to 770 pins.  The Tigers beat the Cardinlas in game two 944  to 805, giving Versailles a 304 pin lead heading into the baker games.  Versailles won the first baker game 182 to 122.  The Tigers won the second baker game 178 to 156.  Versailles won the 3rd baker game 169 to 140.  Versailles won the 4th baker game 188 to 126 and lost the 5th and final baker game 158 to 136.  The Tigers won the match with 2732 total pins to 2237 total pins for New Bremen. 

Versailles was led by Kyle Bohman with 234 and Michael Davidson with a 205.  The victory over the Cardinals brings the Tigers record to 2-0 on the season.   The Tigers will travel to Columbus on Saturday, December 3rd to compete the Ohio High School Invitational Kick-Off Tournament. The qualified for this years invitational since they won the WOHSBC last season. “This is the first time we have qualified for this tournament are we are looking forward to going up against some of the best teams in the state.” They will compete against 32 of the top teams in the state. All teams will bowl 3 regular games. The field will then be cut to the top 16 teams based on total pinfall. The next round will be single elimination match play best out of 5 Baker Games. #1 vs. #16, #2 vs. #15, etc.  Please visit www.wohsbc.com for in depth stats and conference standings.  

Girls Varsity Bowling Team Bowls Unopposed 

The Versailles Girls Varsity Bowling Team traveled to Pla-Mor Lanes in Coldwater for their third week of WOHSBC Conference action on Saturday, December 3. The Lady Tigers bowled unopposed for an automatic win due to Celina’s team being ineligible for competition for the 3rd week in a row. Sophomore Megan Monnin was the lead bowler in the first game with a 178 followed by freshman Megan Ward with a 172. The second game had Kelsey Berning as lead with a 168. The Lady Tigers are now 3-0 on the season. 

The girls travel to Astro Lanes in Wapakoneta on Saturday, December 10 where they will bowl against the Lady Cavaliers of Coldwater. The match begins at 10:00 am. Please visit www.wohsbc.com for in depth stats and conference standings. 

JV Boys and Girls Bowling Teams Compete in Minster 

The Versailles Girls JV Team won their match against Marion Local and the Boys JV Team lost a close match to St. Henry. The girls won by their match 1,939 to 1,493. Leading the JV girls were Joanna Cruz   with a 193 and Tori Minnich with a 155. 

The boys lost a close match 2,348 to 2,414. Leading the JV Boys were Josh Davis with a 178, Matt Grilliot with a 174 and Joel Hemmelgarn with a 171. 

The JV teams travel to Plaza Lanes in Celina Saturday for their 2 pm matches.