Trulock claims girls title, Doucette spills 300 at UP bowling finals

ISHPEMING -- There were many Iron Mountain-Kingsford standouts on Saturday as high school bowling teams traveled to River Rock Lanes in Ishpeming to compete in the 2021 U.P. Singles Finals.

A highlight was a 300 game bowled by Kingsford junior Marcus Doucette, a member of the Iron Mountain squad. He finished in second place for the U.P. boys singles title.

McKenna Trulock, a KHS freshman bowling for the Iron Mountain co-op team, won the girls championship.

In that competition, 33 competitors began by bowling four qualifying games, with the top 16 moving on to two-game elimination match play. The Lady Mountaineers put on an excellent display by placing five out of six bowlers in the round of 16.

Qualifying at the No. 3 seed was Kingsford student and senior Lexi Jacko, who shot a four-game score of 705. No. 4 seed, Kingsford freshman Kimberley McCallister, rolled a 668.

Tossing a 620 was McCallister's older sister Jane, a KHS Senior.

Rounding out the top 16 were Trulock at 547 and IMHS freshman Emily Lautzenheiser with a score of 534.

Jacko bested Ishpeming's Lily Ulvila by 78 pins (365-287) to move on to the round of eight. She was joined by Trulock, who edged out Emily Kayramo of L'Anse in a tight contest (312-290). In the round of eight, Trulock moved on as she beat Maggie Berger of Menominee 338-288.

Jacko's 293 was a heartbreaking finish as she fell to Escanaba's Abby Hill who shot 319.

In the Final Four match, Trulock exacted a bit of revenge by topping Escanaba's Hill, 367-311, moving on to the finals against Elise Ketola of Westwood. In the first game, Trulock got ahead of Ketola by 18 pins. Ketola rolled a 170 game, but was unable to overcome the lead Trulock had.

Trulock was crowned the 2021 Upper Peninsula Bowling Conference girls singles champion.

"I believe this is the first time a freshman has ever won the U.P. singles title in the conference's 27-year history," stated conference secretary Dave Ebsch of Menominee.

Forty-six U.P. boys began bowling the four-game qualifying block. Eleven Mountaineers began the tournament, but only four moved on to the match play brackets.

KHS junior Andrew Morgan topped the Mountaineer qualifiers by placing third with an 896 total. Morgan's first three games totaled 708 (237-223-248). No. 4 seed was fellow KHS junior Doucette with a score of 881.

KHS senior Logan Galbraith was seeded No. 6 with an 835 total score. The final Mountaineer bowler to make the qualifying cut was IMHS junior Hunter Lautzenheiser at No. 8 seed with 817. All four bowlers averaged over 200 in qualifying, with Morgan carrying a 224 average, Doucette at 220, Galbraith with 208 and Lautzenheiser averaging 204.

In the first round of match play, two Mountaineer bowlers advanced. Logan Galbraith topped Gaven Erickson of Escanaba 396-354 and Marcus Doucette beat fellow Eskimo Jordan Nance 420-349. The round of eight saw only Doucette move on, throwing a 559 to the 396 score of Ishpeming's Dawsen Emaunuelson.

Doucette's games were 259 and 300. This was Doucette's first perfect game.

Doucette's hot hand continued into the semi-final match as he tossed 247 and 230 to end the run of No. 1 seed Hunter Lancour of Escanaba, who shot a two-game score of 384.

In the final match, Doucette's opponent was Troy Delvaux of Escanaba. Delvaux started by firing a 268 to Doucette's 224. Doucette came back to shoot 212 to Delvaux's 187, but the gap was too great.

Doucette claimed the UPBC runner-up singles title for 2021. For the 12 games of qualifying and match play, he carried an average of 231.

Doucette's 300 marks the fourth time a perfect game has been thrown in Upper Peninsula Bowling Conference competition. The late Jordan Groeneveld of Kingsford rolled the first 300 game for the Kingsford Flivver bowling team in 2003 at Holiday Bowl in Menominee.

Flivver bowler Mike Wahoviak also rolled perfection at the U.P. Singles Finals in 2008 at Recreation Lanes.

"I am extremely pleased with how everyone bowled today," said head coach Pete Tomassoni. "We are reaching our peak at just the right time with regionals right around the corner."

Saturday the Mountaineer bowling team will travel to Escanaba for the U.P. Team Finals at Bowl-A-Rama.