Bowlers from Duncan Lanes took part in the Canadian Tenpin Federation and Youth Bowl Canada provincial championships earlier this spring, enjoying lots of success, including a pair of medals.
The best results for the Cowichan Valley bowlers came in the intermediate girls division at the CTF provincials held at Splitsville Entertainment in Nanaimo on March 7 and 8.
Amber Kelly duplicated her silver medal from 2019 in the intermediate division with a total of 1,151 pins over eight games. Briana Wright moved up from the junior level and won her second CTF bronze medal and first at the intermediate level. Paige Novak was the only junior girl from Duncan Lanes to compete in Nanaimo, finishing fourth with 760 pins.
None of the girls divisions had more than five entries, so no qualifying events were held, and all bowlers advanced directly to the finals. The boys, however, did have to get through qualifying on March 7 in order to compete the following day, although the 2019 provincial champions were seeded and received a bye through the qualifying round.
Duncan Lanes sent two juniors and three bantams to Nanaimo. Jeremy Garside led the way with a total of 918 pins over six games to finish a solid fifth in the junior division, while Brady Wratten was sixth with 871.
Ethan Frehlick was the top Duncan bantam in qualifying with 973 pins, including his best single-game total ever of 235 pins, 100 above his average, which was also the second-highest bantam score of the day. Brodie Woywitka joined Frehlick in the finals by placing fifth in qualifying with 840 pins. Kingston Wikkerink placed seventh in qualifying with 743.
Frehlick had 1,265 in the bantam finals to finish fifth, just 24 pins back of bronze. Woywitka was sixth with 1,187.
Many of the same bowlers also attended the YBC provincials at McCurdy Lanes in Kelowna a week earlier, where Duncan Lanes had eight competitors in the mix.
The best results came in the bantam age group, where Wikkerink came closest to the podium, placing fourth with 904 pins, 37 back of bronze, and also put up the second-highest game score in the division, hitting 200 in his sixth game. Frehlick was seventh with 831 pins, and Kayden Richardson was 11th with 558.
Garside also narrowly missed a medal in Kelowna, finishing fourth in the junior boys division with 1,068 pins, 51 back of the medals, while Wratten was seventh with 880. Brandon Clark competed in the senior boys division, the largest field at provincials, and placed 18th with 856 pins. Clark has six more years to challenge for a medal in the senior level.
Kelly was fifth in the senior girls division, with 894 pins over six games, 108 back of the bronze. Novak was Duncan’s lone junior girl and finished sixth in her first major competition with 504 pins.