WESTLAND — The Catholic League crowned bowling champions in four divisions Saturday, Feb. 22, at Oak Lanes.
It took nearly five hours for about 150 boys and girls bowlers representing 16 schools to advance through three rounds of competition.
At the end, these were the champion teams:
Girls East — Farmington Hills Mercy (Angela Rea, Faye Storck, Caitlin Hill, Abby Worley, Maddie Briggs, Anna Burns, Claire Zahra, Beth Widun. Coach Vicki Kowalski).
Girls West — Madison Heights Bishop Foley (Jenna DeSantis, Kaitlyn Wilton, Rosa Burgaj, Sador Assefa, Elizabeth Uhlarik, Maria Nicolas. Coach Joe DeFonzo).
Boys East — Dearborn Divine Child (Shane Green, Anthony Kaniski, Jon Ligenza, Paul Scheuher, Noel Jackson, Andrew Carl, Kurt May, Adam Thompson. Coach Nick Ploucha).
Boys West — Allen Park Cabrini (Matthew Heath, Nathan Radke, Adam Berthiaume, David Kowalski, Chris Stevens, Evan Pogorzelski, Anthony Russo. Coach Josh Jablonski).
The morning opened with all teams rolling three games to determine the top four in each division who would move along to the semifinals, and these winners, in turn, would proceed to the championship match.
At this juncture, the Baker Format method of scoring is used in a best-of-three series, which places emphasis on the team effort rather than the accomplishments of the individual players. Teams rotate so each player plays in order: the first bowler bowls frames 1 and 6, the second bowler bowls frames 2 and 7 and so forth, with the fifth bowler bowling frames 5 and 10.
The semifinalist matches in East Girls Division: Divine Child defeated Warren Regina and Mercy defeated Bloomfield Hills Marian. In the finals, Mercy defeated Divine Child.
Girls West semifinalists: Bishop Foley defeated Chesterfield Austin and Cabrini defeated Riverview Gabriel Richard. Bishop Foley beat Cabrini in the final.
Boys East semifinalists: Divine Child defeated Detroit U-D Jesuit and Warren De La Salle defeated Novi Detroit Catholic Central. Divine Child defeated De La Salle in the final.
Boys West semifinalists: Cabrini defeated Riverview Gabriel Richard and Bishop Foley defeated Detroit Loyola. Cabrini beat Foley in the final.
De La Salle junior Jack Gohlke captured everyone’s attention flirting with back-to-back 300 games. He rolled a 279 in the first game and 267 in the second. He cooled off to 155 in the third game for an outstanding 701 series.
Gohlke, 16, started out with six strikes in a row in both games. In the seventh frame in both, he had a 9-spare and an 8-spare.
He carries a 203 average during the season.
In a holiday tournament recently, he rolled a 1074 series, qualifying him to compete in the Junior Gold Championships, an annual national tournament for the top male and female youth bowlers in the United States, held July 10-18 in Las Vegas.
The Qualifying Opening Round
Boys East — 1st Detroit U-D Jesuit 2703; 2nd Novi Detroit Catholic Central 2696; 3rd Warren De La Salle 2687; 4th Dearborn Divine Child 2484; 5th Orchard Lake St. Mary’s 2254.
Girls East — 1st Farmington Hills Mercy 2208; 2nd Dearborn Divine Child 2020; 3rd Warren Regina 1725; 4th Bloomfield Hills Marian 1157.
Boys West — Allen Park Cabrini 2296; 2nd Madison Heights Bishop Foley 2262; 3rd Detroit Loyola 2172; 4th Riverview Gabriel Richard 1788; 5th Chesterfield Austin Catholic 1782; 6th Clarkston Everest 1681; 7th Ann Arbor Fr. Gabriel Richard 1661; 8th Waterford Our Lady of the Lakes 1351.
Girls West — 1st Madison Heights Bishop Foley 1990; 2nd Riverview Gabriel Richard 1817; 3rd Allen Park Cabrini 1739; 4th Chesterfield Austin Catholic 1659.
Top 10 Individuals Series — Boys
1st Jack Gohlke (DeLaSalle) 279-267-155=701; 2nd Tyler Jackson (Catholic Central) 212-198-208=618; 3rd Nate Comerford (U-D Jesuit)161-267-159=587; 4th Evan Nazareno (U-D Jesuit) 199-182-203=584; 5th Pietro Cataldo (Riverview Gabriel Richard) 185-226-149=560. 6th (tie) Matt Wilton (Bishop Foley) 175-205-159=539; 6th (tie) Michael Morrone (Catholic Central) 202-155-182=539; 7th Kellan Okray (Catholic Central) 210-144-178=532; 8th Jon Ligenza (Divine Child) 178-181-168=527; 9th Noel Jackson (Divine Child) 154-213-148=515; 10th Luke Whalen (St. Mary’s)167-156-184=507.
Top 10 Individuals Series — Girls
1st Jenna DeSantis (Bishop Foley) 177-170-184=531; 2nd Jordan Downham (Cabrini) 156-167-178=501; 3rd Emma Uetz (Divine Child) 169-134-179=482; 4th Maddie Briggs (Mercy) 123-135-196=454; 5th Paige Westergaard (Regina) 142-150-158=450. 6th Trianna Smith (Divine Child) 140-143-148=431; 7th Hanna Sauve (Riverview Gabriel Richard) 113-148-164=425; 8th Madeline Beattie (Austin Catholic) 188-128-105=421; 9th Kaitlyn Wilton (Bishop Foley) 138-144-134=416; 10th Jewell Redman (Divine Child) 143-149-122=414.
Top 10 Individuals Games — Boys
1st Jack Gohlke (De La Salle) 279; 2nd (tie) Jack Gohlke (De La Salle) 267; 2nd (tie) Nate Comerford (U-D Jesuit) 267; 4th Pietro Cataldo (Riverview Gabriel Richard) 226; 5th Noel Jackson (Divine Child) 213; 6th Tyler Jackson (Catholic Central) 212; 7th Kellan Okray (Catholic Central) 210; 8th Tyler Jackson (Catholic Central) 208; 9th Tony Wojtasik (Catholic Central) 207; 10th Rafe Dewar (De La Salle) 206.
Top 10 Individuals Games — Girls
1st Maddie Briggs (Mercy) 196; 2nd Madeline Beattie (Austin Catholic) 188; 3rd Anna Burns (Mercy) 187; 4th Jenna DeSantis (Bishop Foley) 184; 5th Emma Uetz (Divine Child) 179; 6th Jordan Downham (Cabrini) 178; 7th (tie) Jenna DeSantis (Bishop Foley) 177; 7th (tie) Angela Rea (Mercy) 177; 9th Jenna DeSantis (Bishop Foley) 170; 10th Emma Uetz (Divine Child) 169.