Several Champaign County bowlers will flood Columbus for the prep state championships this weekend, with the usual suspects at the top of the list. Both Urbana’s boys and Mechanicsburg’s girls will make the trip after winning championships in recent years. Graham’s boys are also in the field, as is Triad’s Madison Dolby.
Defending champion Urbana is in the middle of the pack as far as district scores are concerned, but the Hillclimbers definitely have the firepower to repeat as champions with a good showing.
Andru Troyer won the district tournament with a 651, just one week removed from a 508 at the sectional. That score alone shows the possible variance a talented bowler can have.
Luc Russell anchors Urbana for his senior season after dominating the CBC for a couple of years. Russell shows consistency that many other athletes don’t have, and his postseason has been a model of that – 575 at the sectional and 587 at the district.
Taylor Armstrong (569/595), Kyle Beavers (528 district) and Caleb Peterson (506 sectional) round out a talented and experienced Urbana squad.
Graham squeaked into state with a third-place finish at the district, led by Brady Oder and Nate Evans. Oder rolled a 623 at the sectional and followed that with a 556 at the district for a top-10 finish. Evans had a 534 two weeks ago and a 522 last weekend.
Emerson Bruce (509/490), Dalton Oder (489 district) and Tanner Monaghan (495 sectional) will help bolster the Falcons’ attack.
In the girls’ competition, Mechanicsburg was decimated by graduation.
But that hasn’t stopped the Indians from getting back to the summit.
“The girls have done a great job this season taking over their new roles and responsibilities on the varsity team. As you are aware, this was due to us taking a big hit to graduation last year,” M’burg Coach Dave Bush said. “I see a lot of similarities in this year’s varsity team compared to last year’s team. I think that is due to the fact that most of the girls on this year’s team have been with the bowling program for a few years now so they have been exposed to and seen the success we have had over the years at the state level. So they know what is needed to compete at that level.”
Ally Hosier has been the leader of this year’s rendition of the Indians, as the most experienced bowler at the varsity level and a four-time OHC Player of the Year. Hosier had a 518 at the sectional and a 514 at the district, both good enough for top-10 finishes.
Miranda Keene (538/501), Madison Boggs (454/478), Amanda Coulter (444/445) and Skyler Herron (525/418) round out a talented and consistent group of girls.
“This season’s varsity team is a very talented group of young ladies who work very well together. If one of the girls is having an off day, there has always been another team member there to pick them up,” Bush said. “This has been a fun group of girls to work with this season. They work hard in practices and when it comes time to bowl they get to it and get done what needs to be done.”
The Indians finished the regular season 19-1 (8-0 OHC). The one loss in the regular season was to Coldwater, which has also been a regular over the years at the state tournament.
Joining the Indians will be Triad’s Madison Dolby, who rolled a 475 at the sectional and then exploded with a 591 to finish second at the district.
The Division II girls tournament takes place today at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl. The Division II boys tournament takes place on Saturday at the same location.
