District bowling: Four area teams have state on their minds

Four Medina County bowling teams are aiming to make history at the Northeast Division I District at Rebman Recreation, while a fourth is hoping history repeats. The Medina boys team and Buckeye boys and girls teams will be seeking their first state tournament berth, while the Wadsworth girls are hoping to qualify for the second straight year and third time overall. Northeast District action begins at 10 a.m. today at Rebman Recreation with the D-II boys tournament, which will feature Black River's Hunter Mate. The D-II girls event, which includes the Pirates' Karleigh Goble, will be Saturday at 10 a.m. The top four teams and top four individuals from non-qualifying teams will advance to the state tournament at HPL Bowling Center in Columbus. "I just want to try to do the same thing and even try to beat that," said Mate, a senior who is coming off a career-high 688 three-game series that placed him second overall and first among individual qualifiers at the Lorain County Sectional at Medina Lanes. "If I bowl like I did at sectionals, I feel like I have a good shot." The D-I boys tournament, which includes individual qualifier Hayden Eagon-Mohlmaster of Wadsworth, will be held Sunday at 10 a.m., while the girls event, which includes Highland's Gracie Dunne, the 2025 state runner-up, is set for Monday at 10 a.m. The top five teams and top five individuals from non-qualifying teams will advance to state. Medina, which finished second at the Summit County Sectional at Spins Bowl, has had one individual compete at state. Zach Lewis was 12th in 2020 with a 656 series, which was the same year current Wadsworth assistant Chris Steele won a state title for the Grizzlies with a 716 in his third appearance at the event. "I am very aware," Bees sophomore Shane Rodriguez said of the program never reaching state as a team. "I want us to be the first." Medina will need to post some big numbers to advance, but Rodriguez, Mathew Paffumi, Justin Rehner, Jimmy Green, Brayden Phillipp, James Grandstaff and Andrew Bonus have the ability to do so. "We're hoping to come together as a team and all work together to get some good scores on the board," Rodriguez said. "We'll keep everybody hyped up and make sure nobody gets in their head. Hopefully, we're going to make it to states. We're going to give it our all." The Buckeye boys and girls teams not only have never made it to state, they've also never had an individual qualifier, but they have a chance to change both. The Buckeye boys are coming off a third-place finish at the Summit County Sectional at Spins Bowl, where junior John Ambrose finished second overall with a 668 series and turned in the high game with a 269. The Bucks also have a number of other bowlers capable of putting up big numbers, including Alex Marconi, Kevin Miller, Gavin Onyx, Lucas Edenfield, Hunter Uehlein, Sean Chambers and Carter Fry. "It's probably going to be really close whether we make it or not," Ambrose said. "You have to stay consistent and not let a bad ball or two affect you mentally. You've got to keep your head in the game." While the Bucks will need to improve the scores they posted at sectionals to advance, they have the advantage of being very familiar with the lanes at Rebman Recreation, where they have bowled a number of times in North Shore Bowling Conference competitions. "I'm feeling this year could be the one," Ambrose said. "We've done really well all season and we all think we have a really solid chance at making it. We just have to do what we know how to do." The Buckeye girls participated in the Northeast District at Roseland Lanes a year ago, but it was a day the Bucks would like to forget, as they finished 18th out of 19 teams. "That was a learning experience," senior Aubrey Reuter said. "Three of our bowlers are returning, so we'll know what it's like and be able to help out our newer team members. Hopefully that produces better results." The Bucks will come in hot, as they led wire to wire while winning the Summit County Sectional and had the individual champion in Reuter, whose 630 series at Spins Bowl included a tournament-high 269 game. "I don't want to think about (qualifying) individually, because I believe we have a team that can make it," Reuter said. "Our scores from our conference tournament and (sectionals) would bring us pretty close to qualifying for states. That right there is amazingness." The Bucks aren't short on depth, as letterwinners Reuter, Addison Fry and Leah Kaczmarski combined primarily with Riley Onyx and LaRyssa Hartshorn to go undefeated in dual matches and win the NSBC Lake Division Tournament. Buckeye also has experience bowling at Rebman, where Reuter takes lessons from Tom Reid, while a number of teams that will be at the Northeast District had never been inside the establishment prior to practicing there this week. "We want to get the sport as much recognition as possible at our school," Reuter said. "We have very good individuals, so to be able to get the school's name out there, it would mean the world to me to get to that (state) level." The Wadsworth girls team, which like the Bucks went undefeated in dual matches while capturing preseason, regular-season and postseason championships in the Suburban League, grabbed the fifth and final qualifying spot at districts last year at Roseland, then finished 12th at state. "It can help a lot," senior Addy Martin said of the Grizzlies' previous success at districts. "Our team hasn't really changed a whole lot. We lost two people, but we still have three of us, so that will be very helpful." Wadsworth is coming off a third-place finish at the Stark County Sectional at Eastbury Bowling Center, where Aubrey Masuda had the high series (602) and high game (225) and Cassidy Myers was eighth overall with a 543. The Grizzlies have not competed at Rebman, but Masuda, Myers and Martin combine with Ella Brandenburg, Morgan Shaeffer and Grace Dunwald to give Wadsworth plenty of firepower. "As long as we work well together as a team and help each other out and cheer each other on, we'll be fine," Martin said. "Getting to state would mean a lot. Wadsworth has never done that two years in a row, but I feel like we can do it." Contact Rick Noland at (330) 721-4046 or rnoland@medina-gazette.com.