Back when the Cicero-North Syracuse boys bowling team finished second to Fulton in the Section III Class A tournament Feb. 1 at Strike-N-Spare Lanes, some of its individuals knew they had a second chance to go further this winter.
And Josh Cloute took full advantage of this opportunity during last Friday’s Section III Shoot-Out at Rome’s King Pin Lanes, finishing second in a field of 30 bowlers and gaining a berth on the sectional All-Star team heading to Strike-N-Spare in early March for the state tournament.
In a winter that included a perfect 300 game, Cloute knew he had to bowl well as two of his C-NS teammates, Jacob Fox and Nick Joss, were also part of the Shoot-Out field.
During the first session, Cloute strung together solid games of 190, 212 and 189, but that put him below the pace. All of that changed, though, when Cloute managed a 255 in the fourth game, which led to a 210 in the fifth game and a 166 in the final game.
When all the scores were added up, Cloute had a pinfall of 1,222. That put him behind only Camden’s Andrew Bourgeois, whose 256 and 255 games led to a 1,355 aggregate and the individual championship.
So now Cloute and Bourgeois join the four individual league leaders on the sectional All-star squad. Baldwinsville’s Andrew Kopec led the CNY Counties League, while Homer’s Ryan Aylesworth paced the Onondaga High School League. Whitesboro’s Mark Morreale led the Tri-Valley League and New York Mills’ Robert Kinville was tops in the Center State Conference.
Fox would contend, too, scoring every game between 159 and 209, and producing a 1,121 series that left him in seventh place. Joss struggled to a 955 series and took 27th place.
Meanwhile, in the girls Section III Shoot-Out, C-NS’s Kaitlin Antineli made a push for the state tournament, putting together a 1,025 series that finished with a 226 high game that left her in seventh place.
Chittenango’s Casey Smith (1,219 series) and Rome Free Academy’s Megan Durgan (1,190 series) earned the top two spots and will go to the state tournament with Durgan’s RFA teammate, Korena Kinney, plus Auburn’s Kaylee Fallat, Fulton’s Kendra Tryniski and Clinton’s Meghan Doris.
