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Bowling: Iron Mountain boys take UP championship

Avery Bundgaard /The Daily Press Photo Iron Mountain High School boys bowling team poses with its trophies Saturday after winning the UP High School Bowling Conference team finals at the Bowl-A-Rama in Escanaba. The Mountaineers, front, from left: Josh Freeman, Brandon Malburg, Lincoln Pettibone, Zach "Spanky" Spera, Austin Marier and Trey Nichols. Back row: Kurtis Reath, Bryce Robinson, Noah Jacko, Zach Hanson, Ian Driscoll, Brian Pettibone, Nathan Arndt, assistant Kevin Hanson and head coach Pete Tomassoni

ESCANABA — It was jam-packed inside the Bowl-A-Rama bowling alley in Escanaba Saturday for the UP team bowling finals where Iron Mountain took home the boys’ title and Ishpeming won the girls’ title.

“It’s always a good time,” said Esky coach Rick Neumann on hosting the event. “It can be a little stressful but we enjoy it.”

Iron Mountain claimed the top spot for the boys with a baker series of 939 and a team series of 2812 for a total score of 3751.

The Mountaineers put up an impressive 1131 points in the first game while no other team even broke 900 the rest of the day.

“It’s an awesome feeling,” said Iron Mountain coach Pete Tomassoni. “The boys really took it upon themselves to buckle down after some poor baker games. Once it got to the regular games things started clicking and the rest is history.”

The Westwood boys’ team came in second with 3531 points followed by Marquette (3512), Ishpeming (3390), Menominee (3316), Gladstone (3298), Escanaba (3219) and Calumet (2687) to round out the field.

Iron Mountain boys were also the UP X team champions scoring a total 3017 points.

“The boys worked hard in practice all season long,” said Tomassoni. “They performed today and there was a lot of hard practice that got us to this point.”

Ishpeming took home the girls’ title with a baker series of 994 and a team series of 2463 for a total of 3457 points.

The Hematites rolled an 864 their first game and an 827 the second game for the only team to bowl two games over 800.

“It’s nice because it was a battle with Escanaba and I knew it was going to come down between those two teams,” said Ishpeming coach Steve Windahl. “It was a fight right down to the end and they pulled it out.”

The Escanaba girls’ team came in a close second with a baker series of 993 and a team series of 2378 for a total of 3371.

Iron Mountain girls’ team came in third with 2976 points followed by Marquette (2919), Escanaba “XG” (2540), Menominee (2419), Escanaba “X” (2109) and Calumet (2950) to round out the field.

Escanaba, Iron Mountain and Marquette will participate in the Division 2 regional in Bay City Friday and Saturday while Gladstone, Ishpeming, Menominee and Calumet will participate in the Division 3 regional in Cheboygan the same days.

— Avery Bundgaard writes for The Daily Press in Escanaba.

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