MATTYDALE – All winter long West Genesee girls bowler Lorelai Leskoske demonstrated her skills while competing against boys and, more often than not, beating them.
Then Leskoske emerged with the top score from the individual Division I (large school) total from the Section III Shootout at Strike-N-Spare Lanes late in February, a grueling 12-game event spread out over two days.
Leskoske posted 1,318 the first day, nearly averaging 220 for each game the first day and then fell back a bit to 1,262 on the second day.
For the two days Leskoske had 2,580, an average of exactly 215 per game. Overall, only two-time state champion Eliana Occhino (Christian Brothers Academy) did better in Division with a 2,665 aggregate.
Now it was on to the New York State Public High School Athletic Association championships where, in the Division I individual tournament, Leskoske led the Section III All-Star side.
Two Fulton bowlers, Hailey Payment and Molly Smith, were also on the team, as were Baldwinsville’s Sam Hass (who helped the Bees win a state Division I team title in 2023), Liverpool’s Sara Conover and Rome Free Academy’s Mylie Weyant.
In her opening game Leskoske put up a 202. Then she shot her best game with a 238 before a 200 in the third game. In the second half of the tournament Leskoske shot 192 in her fifth game in between games of 161 and 166.
With her aggregate of 1,159, Leskoske finished 34th, right behind Payment and Hass both shooting 1,185 and Conover’s 1,168 and just ahead of Smith’s 1,148 total.
Weyant topped the entire field. Shooting five games of 231 or better including a third-game 265, Weyant finished at 1,375, a 12-pin victory over Section XI’s Dakota Collins and completing a Section III sweep in both divisions as Christian Brothers Academy’s Elianna Occhino earned her third state title in Division II with 1,371.