Hodags’ Pearson wins D9 singles tourney

To say the Rhinelander club bowling teams had a good performance in the Wisconsin High School Bowling Club District 9 singles tournament would be an understatement.

With the benefit of some home cooking, the Hodags took four of the six flights, had seven bowlers place in the money and took home $1,865 worth of scholarships during the three-day event held Feb. 23-25 at Nick’s Hodag Lanes.

Senior Noah Pearson had the best event of the bunch, rolling a 908 series over four games to claim the top flight of the tournament and $320 in scholarship dollars. Four of the five members of the Rhinelander/

Tomahawk boys’ squad placed in the top six of their divisions and earned a share of more than $7,000 purse. The Rhinelander/

Elcho girls’ team had a pair of scholarship winners while Eli Miller came away with cash for the Rhinelander middle school team.

“It was a good day for all of our kids. If you can get $1,800 for our kids alone in scholarship funds, that’s great,” coach Mike Bourcier said. “It’s good when you see them perform when the needed to, individually. Obviously, our goal was team, but they did not get down saying, ‘hey, we did not make state.’ They came out and they shined.”

The vast majority of the club’s bowlers took part in the final of the weekend’s three shifts on Sunday afternoon. Pearson started hot, collecting strikes in each of the first eight frames of his opening game, on his way to a 276. He had middle games of 192 and 196 before finishing with a 244. That gave him a comfortable margin of victory in the top flight and a highlight on which to end his high school career.

“To be the top dog in the whole thing and take care of the 140-some-odd kids that came to bowl from our district, that’s pretty awesome,” Bourcier said. “You’ve got to figure most of the kids going to state were all there bowling it. You know you can compete with them.”

The participants were split evenly into six flights based on their season-long fill percentage in District 9 competition. The Hodags placed two in the money in the B division. Sophomore Dominic Hakala won the flight and earned $320, while senior Keagyn Schoone took fourth, taking home $170. 

    Dominic Hakala bowls during the WiHSBC District 9 Singles competition at Nick’s Hodag Lanes in Rhinelander Sunday, Feb. 25. Hakala, a sophomore on the Rhinelander/Tomahawk boys’ team, won the B division of the tournament with an 840 series. (Bob Mainhardt for the River News)
  

Hakala opened with a 238 in his opening game and had three games in the 200s as he rolled an 840 series. Schoone, bowling in the same group as Hakala, had a high game of 235 and an 813 series. 

“Dominic got lined up and it stayed pretty good for him all day. He had one little bump in the middle but he bowled well,” Bourcier said. “Keagyn was bowling on the same pair as him and bowling well, but he’s still learning and all of that, but he’s come a long ways from when he first started. He bowled really well. Just had one bad game in there and finishes fourth.” 

Sophomore Jackson Fuss bowled a 258 in his third game to help propel him to a first-place tie in the E division with a 762 series, which netted him $295. Middle schooler Eli Miller also finished in the money in the E division, opening with a 207 game, finishing with a 748 series and earning $220. 

“Jackson, his first big tournament individually and game 3 was his big game,” Bourcier said. “He got on a pair and shot 258. Overall, in the whole tournament, I would say he was easily in the top seven high games. And he bowled well the game before that. He was pretty pumped.”

“Eli just needs to stay up there and not get distracted with everything going on around him and he’ll be right up there soon enough,” Hodag girls’ and middle school coach Cory Dellenbach noted. 

Emily Koniar won the F division and $320 with a 652 series that included a high game of 189 in her opener. Addison Habeck closed with a 196 to shoot a 633 series and finish third in the F division, earning $220.

“It was great seeing Emily score like she did. Starting that first game with three strikes and then a spare, that gave her the confidence to do what she was able to with the 189, 160, 153 and 150,” coach Dellenbach said. “She’s really been putting in the time at practice to improve and it’s showing. She throws a real nice ball. 

“For Addison, that first one was a little tough missing some 10-pin pickups, but she bounced back. She fell short of her goal of hitting a 200 game, but only by 4 pins in the at last game.”

Aubree Doppke finished just one pin outside the money in the E division, taking seventh with a 671 series. Johanna Dellenbach (677) and Blake Klingen (668) finished 16th and 18th, respectively in the B division. Natalie Dellenbach was 19th in the D division (632). Alyssa Habeck (564) was 18th in the E division. Logan Campbell (289) was 17th in the F division while Katrina Roof (488), Charlotte Pruess (446), Brighton Walkowski (438) and Silas Johnson (391) finished 18th, 20th, 21st and 23rd, respectively. 

The event attracted nearly 140 bowlers from the WiHSBC’s District 9, which covers the north central portion of the state. 

“Saturday and Sunday, having a full house and seeing all the competition there, everything ran smooth, which is always a plus,” Bourcier said. “Friday night we had some guys come down watch these kids and it’s like, ‘How do they throw these balls? What are the doing? … I’ve been bowling for 25 years and could never turn the ball like that.’”

None of the Hodag high school bowlers qualified for this weekend’s WiHSBC state tournament, which will take place at Ashwaubenon Bowling Alley. By virtue of a fifth-place finish in the D9 girls’ standings, Johanna Dellenbach will compete in the WiHSBC All-Star Challenge team competition March 9 in Green Bay.

The Hodag middle school team still has three meets remaining in its season, March 10 in Antigo followed by home meets March 24 and April 14 at Hodag Lanes. 

Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].