Story by
Which central Ohio bowlers qualified for OHSAA DII state tournament?
- Story by
- Which central Ohio bowlers qualified for OHSAA DII state tournament?
The Heath boys bowling team, Kiersten Smith of the Heath girls squad and boys from Mount Gilead and Ready are among the Central District's qualifiers to the Division II state tournament.
Led by a third-place finish from senior Oliver Walton (639 series), fifth from senior Kamdyn Smith (630) and seventh from sophomore Vincent Favuzzi (611), Heath rolled a 3,951 in the district tournament Feb. 17 at HP Lanes to edge runner-up Marion Pleasant by 45 pins.
Advertisement
Seniors Payton Love (30th, 533) and Brody Brill (71st, 173 in one game) rounded out the scoring for Heath, which advanced to state as a team for the fifth time in nine seasons.
Love will make his third state appearance, following a 40th-place finish last year and 79th-place effort as a freshman.
Heath senior Oliver Walton finished third in the Division II district tournament Feb. 17 at HP Lanes, helping the Bulldogs to the team championship.
The top two teams and top two individuals not on qualifying teams advanced to state Feb. 27 (girls) and 28 (boys) at HP Lanes.
Mount Gilead sophomore Mason Hupfer finished first (648) with games of 217, 195 and 236.
Ready freshman Jace James rolled games of 227, 223 and 184 to place fourth (634) and nab the second individual berth to state.
Advertisement
Mechanicsburg (3,467) and Galion Northmor (3,260) took the top two spots in the girls tournament.
Individual berths went to Pleasant senior Breahna Howard (fourth, 515) and Smith (fifth, 513), a sophomore who will make her first state appearance.
Smith had games of 156, 182 and 175.
Heath's Kiersten Smith will compete in her first Division II state tournament. The Bulldogs' boys team also advanced to state.
Westfall boys win Southeast District title
Four bowlers in the top eight powered Westfall to first place in the Division II Southeast District tournament Feb. 16 at Shawnee Lanes in Chillicothe and its first state berth.
Senior Nick Wisenbarger was fourth (615), followed by junior Dawson Fannin (seventh, 564) and senior Dalton Bush and junior Trevor Drone in a tie for eighth (553).
Advertisement
Only the top team and top individual not on the qualifying team advanced.
No area girls teams or individuals reached state.
Circleville finished third (3,062), led by senior Alyssa Sharp in fourth place (531) and sophomore Maddie Bensonhaver in seventh (512), and Logan Elm was fourth (2,948) as a team.
High school sports reporter Dave Purpura can be reached at dpurpura@dispatch.com and at @dp_dispatch on X.
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Heath leads central Ohio bowlers to OHSAA DII state tournament
