As if a first-ever league championship was not special enough for the Christian Brothers Academy girls bowling team, its top performer is headed to next month’s New York State Public High School Athletic Association tournament at Strike-N-Spare Lanes.
Elaina Occhino earned that honor by holding the highest average score of any individual in the Onondaga High School League in 2019-20.
Occhino, along with Utica Proctor’s Kaitlynn Conte (Tri-Valley), Auburn’s Kaylee Hodson (SCAC) and Sherburne-Earlville’s Olivia Fehlner (Center State Conference), earned automatic berths on the Section III All-Star squad.
Two more girls bowlers would join them in the March 14 state tournament as a result of their efforts in the Section III Shootout, held last Thursday at Rome’s King Pin Lanes.
East Syracuse Minoa star America Carhart opened with games of 211 and 223. Had she kept that pace, Carhart may have made it, but she shot 163 in the third game, followed by 193, 194 and 189 in the last three games.
Still, Carhart’s 1,174 put her in sixth place in the field of 38, while it took a 1,350 from Fulton’s Alexis Ingersoll and a 1,305 from Liverpool’s Ashley Hardy to advance.
Fayetteville-Manlius bowler Shelby Miner finished 16th with a six-game aggregate of 1,022 that included games of 190 and 193. CBA’s Cadence Malicek posted an 887, ahead of the 844 from teammate Rachel Farella.
In the boys sectional Shootout, two area bowlers finished next to each other in the standings.
And it was F-M’s Kevin Winschel, helped by a 241 in the fifth game, that finished 19th overall at 1,179, one spot ahead of ESM’s Chris Bayly, who started with a 215 but never matched that game on his way to 1,169.
Another Spartans bowler, Tyler Tallarico, was 24th with a 1,149 series, opening with a 234 as F-M’s Adam Koss had a 1,063 series and Bishop Grimes’ Matt Rogers got a 992 series.
It was Cicero-North Syracuse’s Tyler Dottolo (1,410 series) and Fulton’s Mitch Donaldson (1,395) holding off Homer’s Rich Lambrecht (1,391) for the two state tournament berths, joining league champions Eric Carson (Oswego), Nick Henshaw (Homer), Trent Beattie (Whitesboro) and Shane Hecker (Waterville).
