Staff
The Sunset Country men’s team brought home the silver medal from the annual Open provincial championships held April 1-4 in Sudbury.
Featuring local bowlers Mike Behan and Jeff Watts, along with Kevin Blake (Kenora) and Dryden bowlers Tim Gadd, Darryl Rollins, and Jason Rousseau (formerly of Fort Frances), the squad finished the 15-game round-robin portion of the tournament in second place with 72.5 points.
Then they beat Nickel District (Sudbury) 1230-1161 in the “stepladder” round Saturday morning before losing to eventual champion Thunder Bay 1420-1173 in the gold-medal match.
Thunder Bay, which topped the round-robin with 84.5 points, now will represent Northern Ontario at the national roll-offs in Oshawa later this spring.
Watts, whose high game was a 375, led the way with a 276.8 average over 150 frames (15 games) while taking 13 of a possible 15 points.
Behan only managed a 214.8 average over 103 frames but did take five points individually.
His high game was a 267.
The team was coached by Rick Stamarski of Fort Frances.
Meanwhile, the Sunset Country mixed squad wound up in fourth place following the round-robin with 45 points—edging out Gateway (North Bay) by one point for the final berth in Saturday’s “stepladder” round.
But a medal was not to be as the team, which included local bowlers Toni Benning, Kathy Bois, and Jordan Sokoliuk, fell 993-974 to Nickel District in the 3rd vs. 4th match.
Benning, whose high game was a 272, finished with a 206.1 average over 111 frames while taking seven points.
Sokoliuk (high game of 309) averaged 201.9 over 133 frames and took four points while Bois (high game of 235) averaged 183.9 over 105 frames in taking 1.5 points individually.
The squad also featured Dryden bowlers Charlotte Hazlewood, Ernie Matthews, and Kevin Savoury, and were coached by Norm Sanders of Dryden.
Thunder Bay, which had finished first overall in the round-robin with 92.5 points, downed Nickel District 1273-1238 in the gold-medal match to advance to the nationals.
And in women’s play, the Sunset Country squad finished the round-robin in fifth place with 49.5 points—missing out on the “stepladder” round by a measly half-point behind Gold Belt (Timmins).
The squad featured Alexis Hamilton and Terri Hamilton (Balmertown), Jackie Miner, Shelley Petsnick, and Michelle Riley (Dryden), and Cheryl Stefanik (Kenora).
They were coached by Lisa Sanders of Dryden.
Cambrian North (Sudbury), which had finished the round-robin in second place, wound up beating first-place Thunder Bay twice to nab the national berth.
In singles action, Blake and Petsnick were the lone Sunset Country reps to advance to Saturday’s “stepladder” round.
Blake, who had finished in fourth place following the 10-game preliminary round on Wednesday with a total pinfall of 2579 (257.9 average), lost 265-189 to Chad Nelles (Cambrian North) in the 4th vs. 5th match.
Nelles wound up advancing all the way to the gold-medal match before losing 294-214 to front-runner Greg DeGrazia (Thunder Bay).
DeGrazia will represent Northern Ontario in singles play at the nationals in Oshawa.
The other Sunset Country men’s singles reps were Watts and Rollins.
Watts averaged 234.1 over the 10 games to finish in 15th place overall while Rollins averaged 225.1 to sit in 17th.
Petsnick, meanwhile, finished the 10-game preliminary round in third place with a 2593 total (259.3 average).
But she fell 213-193 to Natalie Godin (Cambrian North) in her opening “stepladder” match to miss out on a medal.
Katie Bonnie (Thunder Bay) beat Renee Laframboise (Nickel District) 314-269 in the gold-medal match to advance to Oshawa.
The other Sunset Country women’s singles reps were Alexis Hamilton and Miner.
Miner wound up in 16th place overall after averaging 213.3 while Hamilton came 18th with a 192.6 average.
Combining his singles and team averages, Watts made the men’s all-star team with a 259.72 mark (fourth overall).
Rounding out the all-star squad were DeGrazia (268.52) along with fellow Thunder Bay bowlers Dan Taylor (265.28), Taylor Michel (261.76), and Wesley Swoluk ( 259.01).
Petsnick made the women’s all-star squad—finishing second overall with a combined 248.73 average.
Also making the all-star team were Bonnie (252.40), Krysten Cripps (248.70) and Devan Hook (245.14), both of Thunder Bay, and Laframboise (244.36).
Thunder Bay led the aggregate standings with 62 points, followed by Cambrian North in second (33) and Nickel District third (32).
Sunset Country finished fourth overall with 26 points.
Gold Belt was fifth with 20 points while Gateway rounded out the standings with 18.
