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Mountaineers compete in UP bowling finals

Girls claim team championship; Spera places second in boys individual

IRON MOUNTAIN –With the Upper Peninsula Bowling Conference season complete, the Iron Mountain High School Mountaineer bowling teams recently competed in the UP Singles and Team Finals events.

On Saturday, Feb. 8, 44 young ladies converged upon Recreation Lanes to compete for the UPBC Girls’ crown. All the girls bowled six qualifying games to determine which 16 bowlers would move on to the stepladder bracket finals. Taking the top seed with a six-game total of 1069 (178 average) was Iron Mountain’s Hanna Bastian.

Two more Lady Mountaineers found themselves moving on to the stepladder. At the sixth seed was Alexis Jacko with a total pinfall of 949 (158 average). Only nine pins separated Jacko and Stephanie List at the eighth seed. List averaged 156 for her first six games.

With a roster of six girls, all the Mountaineer bowlers ended up in the top 21. Tamera Jaeger was 16 pins out of the cut at 18th seed, followed by Jane McCallister at 19th. First-year bowler Adrienne Taylor placed 21st.

The round of 16 found Bastian and Jacko moving on while List was knocked out, losing by a mere seven pins. Bastian and Jacko each ended their quest during the round of eight, both dropping their matches by 20 pins. Jacko was defeated by the eventual U.P. champion, Antoinette Levra from Ishpeming.

Bastian finished in fifth place with a total of 1749, while Jacko was eighth with 1514 pins and List next in ninth place with a total pin count of 1227.

On Saturday, Feb. 15, the boys’ team traveled to Dome Lanes in Marinette, Wis for the UP Singles Finals. Sixty-four bowlers began competition with everyone bowling three games.

The field was cut to the top 36 bowlers before a second round of qualifying took place. The Mountaineers, beginning with a field of 11 bowlers, in sixth place after the first cut. Moving on were Zach Spera, Marcus Doucette, Zach Hanson, Logan Galbraith, Hunter Lautzenheiser and Nathan Arndt.

After the next three games, only Spera and Doucette remained. Spera found himself the fourth seed with a pin total of 1140 (190 average) while Doucette was 11th with a 1070 (178 average). Zach Hanson was three pins out of the final cut at 994, finishing in 18th place. Galbraith finished in 24th (963 total), Lautzenheiser was 25th with 957 and Arndt placed 31st with 920.

In the stepladder, Doucette was defeated in the first round by eventual U.P. champion Robert Papp from Westwood (272-334) to finish 14th for the tournament. Doucette carried a 170 average for the day.

Zach Spera ran the bracket, handily defeating all who challenged him. Spera made it to the final round taking on Papp, falling by a two-game score of 359-390, finishing in second place. Spera averaged 188 through 14 games.

Marquette’s Superior Lanes hosted the U.P. Team Finals Saturday, Feb 22. Six teams of girls bowled six Baker games and three regular games, total pin fall determining the U.P. team champion.

After two Baker games, the Lady Mountaineers held a 10-pin lead over both the Marquette and Ishpeming teams. From there, they did not look back, holding the lead throughout the remaining Bakers and regular games.

Iron Mountain finished with a 3038 total to claim the U.P. title, finishing 80 pins over runner-up Ishpeming. Hanna Bastian led the Mountaineer scoring with a 479 series.

The Mountaineer boys team competed with 13 other teams in Marquette. After the six Baker games, the Iron Mountain varsity team was in third place, 98 pins behind a very strong Escanaba Eskymo team.

The Mountaineer X team was in 7th place with an 836 six-game Baker total. The varsity boys shot 2437 during the regular games to finish with 3424, putting them in third place. The X team finished with a total of 2887, which was good for 6th place.

Leading the Mountaineer varsity scoring was Zach Spera with a 596 series. Nathan Arndt topped the X team with 479, while Austin Marier was right behind with a 465 series.

The Mountaineers will be bowling in Gaylord in the Division 2 Regional bowling tournament. Team event took place Friday and the singles event rolls today.

The top three teams and top 10 singles in each region will advance to the State Finals, which will take place March 6 and 7 at Century Bowl in Waterford.

“We have the talent, and we would love to make a second trip downstate.” said Mountaineer head coach Pete Tomassoni.

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