ESCANABA/ISHPEMING — Iron Mountain sophomore Nolan White captured the U.P. bowling boys singles title on Feb. 5 in Escanaba, while defending U.P. girls champion, Kingsford sophomore Morgan Trulock placed second in the Upper Peninsula Bowling Conference’s singles event in Ishpeming on Feb. 12.

In the boys event at Bowl-a-Rama, White placed fifth in the qualifying round with a total of 1,112 and a high game of 233. Teammate Dakota Jaeger was the top qualifier at 1,222 with an average of 203.

Other Iron Mountain top-10 qualifying performances included Ben Cook (seventh) with 1,024 and a personal-best 212 game, Marcus Doucette (eighth) with a 1,013 and a 227 high game and Blake Flaminio (ninth) at 1,010 and a high game of 204. Hunter Lautzenheiser placed 13th (988, 203 high) and Alex Reed finished 16th (965, 194 high).

“The day was a good news-bad news type of day,” IM coach Pete Tomassoni said. “The good news (was) the team bowled very well, qualifying seven out of 13 boys. The bad news (was) six of the seven boys were on the same side of the bracket, assuring that several of the boys would be bowling fellow teammates.”

Jaeger, Lautzenheiser, White, Cook and Doucette all advanced after the first round of match play. In the quarterfinal round, Jaeger topped Doucette 339-306 and White knocked off Lautzenheiser 371-243. In the semifinals, White edged Jaeger 302-291 to advance to the finals where he defeated Gladstone freshman Matthew Meyer 406-354.

“I am very pleased with the effort the team is putting in and how we are bowling going into the U.P. Team Finals and the regional tournament in Bay City,” Tomassoni said.

In the girls event on Feb. 12, Trulock and IM freshman Abby Ward were the two local participants. Trulock finished fourth with a 910 after the qualification round, while Ward wound up “in a respectable 24th,” Tomassoni said.

Trulock advanced to the next round and defeated Zoe Stakvel of Ishpeming 267-226 and then Menominee’s Allyssa Graves 275-210 to advance to the final four. But her title defense was stopped by eventual champion Elise Ketola of Westwood, 364-319.

“Both girls bowled extremely well,” Tomassoni said.

The Iron Mountain boys and girls will participate in today’s U.P. Team Finals at Dome Lanes in Marinette, Wisconsin.