An incredible bowling season became even a little more golden this past weekend as we begin to close down the WOHSBC and WBL seasons.
That being said it was Westgate Lanes that may have offered one of the stronger finishing touches as the District 3 Special Olympians took over the house for the better part of the early afternoon. When things were settled 22 gold medals had been taken awarded to very special athletes in 22 divisions based on age, gender and ability.
While the attention on this day needs to go to the Olympians, there are at the least two side stories that merit mention here. One would be the great job that the staff of Westgate did in keeping things going for the management of the District 3 and the other would be the involvement of Frank Kill and the LCC Thunderbird basketball team in the event. They have been involved in this great event for several years now, by design without notoriety. This year like the others they served as lane monitors, encouragers and award presenters. This year they even found a gold medalist from Celina I believe to sing Happy Birthday to.
It was also a big moment for Mike Moore, a frequent mention in this column, who on Sunday took home his 79th gold medal. Kill said it best as he was called to receive this honor. “He is in a league of his own!”
The icon will have one more day in the sun, or rain or whatever when he travels to Seattle in July to represent Ohio in the Special Olympics and goes for his final medal. A Mike historical column is coming up inside of a month that will include ways you can help make this dream trip even more golden.
WOHSBC NORTH steams into Varsity Lanes
The youth of the WOHSBC will take center stage this Saturday when the season concludes at Varsity Lanes in St. Marys for the North portion of the very elite conference.
The Coldwater Cavaliers have already claimed the south and will have a final week bye. Their talents will be on display this evening however with a mathc against Lima Senior at 20th Century slated to begin around 5 p.m.
The final weekend of the season will be a preview of the WBL finale which will take place next weekend at Hillcrest Lanes in Kenton.
If the defending Division II OHSAA State Champion Roughriders can defend home turf against perennial Division I power Wapakoneta they will lead the conference north contenders into Westgate Lanes next weekend for the overall league championship.
Currently four teams from the traditional WBL side of things have a shot at the gold – St Marys, Lima Shawnee, Celina and Wapakoneta while yet another WBL squad Ottawa Glandorf kept LCC out of the party with an upset this past weekend.
The matches between LCC and Coldwater and the aforementioned St. Marys and Wapakoneta tussle will be well worth the price of admission on Saturday. Time for the contests will be at 1pm.
The OHSAA Kickoff champion Celina will sit side court in this one with fingers crossed. Meanwhile Rick Hartings will have the bowling slide rule ready to determine pairings for the league overall matches next weekend.
If the battle of the boys was not enough, you may want to get there early as the girls portion of the league will be decided by matches slated for 9:45 a.m.
One of the key matches for Saturday will have Lima Shawnee and St. Marys in part three of their intense matchups. It was just a few short weeks ago that The Roughriders defeated Shawnee at 20th Century in league play before losing to the Indians in the elimination round of the Pioneer Classic. They now get them on home turf for a matchup that will determine the conference championship.
Coldwater meanwhile will be hoping the Fort Loramie pulls off the upset as the South heads to Union City Ohio, the land of Mississinawa Valley, for its final weekend in the South. Versailles will claim the south with a victory.
Shoutouts to two former Shawnee Indians
The first goes to Drew Ambroza, who I teased recently as oxymoronic as he continues to destroy the ‘dumb bowler myth.’ It referenced his educational capabilities as well as his bowling prowess. The ONU Dean’s list gent showed his bowling side this past week with the second 300 of his career launching into the zone where we will not be talking much about his 300s any more.
In the last couple of weeks there have been some great reviews for the recent edition of the Temple Christian Pioneer Classic. It could not have happened without the standard excellence of Chris Sanford and the staff of 20th Century and the youth of Temple Christian who were there to help in the vital portions of the day.
One of the more consistent compliments that were received was how rapidly scores were returned and posted. Frequent tourney goers were stunned that even baker games were updated and posted very quickly. There was even a mention or two of how they wish the state play was so quick.
Jennifer Mitchell, I thank you now publicly for the great job that you did in assuring that all the scoring went smoothly and giving me the chance to be out on the lanes addressing any concerns. Thanks again Jennifer. We are all looking forward to having you back for the Division I sectional the last weekend of February.
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