Sectional Bowling: Open Door girls repeat, as Lorain County has big day

MEDINA — Lorain County flexed its muscles at the Division II sectional bowling tournament Sunday at AMF Medina Lanes.County teams took all four qualifying berths on the girls side and two of four on the boys side.Open Door dominated in its title defense to win the Division II girls championship by 479 pins with 3,219. A second-year program, Oberlin (2,740) finished second to earn its first district berth. Firelands (2,626) and Elyria Catholic (2,608) held off Keystone (2,600) for the two other qualifying spots. The Falcons have advanced to district for the third time in four years, and it's the Panthers' third straight trip.The Brookside boys captured their second straight district berth and third overall, finishing third (3,875) behind Coventry (4,139) and Brooklyn (3,891). Keystone (3,838), which finished eighth last year, edged Oberlin (3,822) and defending champ Lutheran West (3,817) for the final qualifying spot and its first district trip since four straight from 2014-17.Individually, Black River senior Hunter Mate was the top local boy, finishing No. 2 for high series and qualifying for district. Mate (206-244-238—688) and Coventry senior Aidan Jensen (225-184-279-688) rolled identical series. Jensen prevailed by winning the tiebreaker with the highest game. Nonetheless, it was a huge performance by Mate, who had never cracked the top 20 at sectionals and finished the day 136 pins over average.Senior Abby Hopkins (534) and junior Hannah Thomas (480) led the Open Door girls, finishing first and third for high series. Hopkins rolled a 186-181-167—534 series to hold off Firelands senior Katie Smith (172-195-162—529), a four-time district qualifier and 2025 state qualifier. Hopkins finished 63 pins over average while Thomas was 30 pins over."Spares were very important," said Hopkins. "We did a lot of spare practicing over the last couple of weeks. It really helps. Coach (Mark Frazier) was very adamant about us getting our spares. He writes down every time that we make or miss one and reminds us how many we make. That really helps. All that practice really helps. We were really hoping to do well and that really showed."Open Door is headed to the district for the fourth time in five years."There was some pressure but at the end of the day we have to go out there and bowl our best," Thomas said. "That's all we can do. Our spare shooting was pretty good today. We put in a lot of effort. Confidence and teamwork are important. It's great that we have a team that we can rely on."Hopkins and Thomas had plenty of help. Seniors Linda Kinnear (454) and Molly Felty (400) finished Nos. 5 and 14 for high series."Believing in who you are is key," said Frazier. "I tell them to believe in the work that they put in, believe in themselves and if we don't make it, to be you. Don't do things that we don't normally do. Every time today when I asked them to rein that in, they did a great job."On our one-pin spares, in the three regular games we made 35 and only missed 12. We got a little sloppy in Baker, making 14 and missing 12, which was still better than 50 percent. We were starting to get a little tired, but for the most part we were way up on the one-pin spares."A year ago, the Oberlin girls finished last of 10 teams with a 1,900 pinfall at Medina. On Sunday they were led by freshman Keira Phillips (467), sophomore Rosie Street (435) and freshman Christina Fridenstine (411), who finished Nos. 4, 6 and 7 for high series."It takes a team effort," Oberlin coach Austin Smith said. "They picked each other up when others were down. We knew based on how we performed at conference compared to the scores here last year that if we came out swinging we knew we had a chance. We didn't tell the girls coming in or throughout the competition that they had a chance. Most of them this is their first year bowling. Some of them didn't have their own bowling balls to start the season."Smith led Firelands' efforts but had help from sophomore Lyra Miller (403), who finished 12th."Mental headspace is pretty important, too," Smith said after discussing the lane conditions. "Something else that's important is the support of your teammates."It was a nice rebound for Smith, who struggled at the NSBC Erie Division Tournament, finishing eighth with a 451."The rest of the team did a great job," said Firelands coach Willie Smith, Katie's dad. "They stepped up in the Bakers. We've got a young team, but there's a lot of potential. It was definitely a team effort."The Elyria Catholic girls outscored Keystone 134-108 in the fifth of six Baker then held on in the sixth as each team rolled 118. Freshman Ella Saven (405) and senior Gracie Thur (403) led EC, finishing ninth and 11th."They hung in there," coach Carmen Messina said. "We graduated four seniors last year. It was a little bit of a rebuilding phase, but our freshmen are tenacious. Our sophomores are fighters and the seniors and juniors from last year are holding true. We did enough to get to the dance again. On to the district tournament."The Brookside boys battled back from a rough second game (852) to move back into third after three regular games (2,708), behind Coventry (2,993) and Brooklyn (2,789) and just in front of Oberlin (2,704), Lutheran West (2,694) and Keystone (2,665). An outstanding Baker of 1,166 — behind only Keystone's 1,173 on the day — helped Brookside maintain its qualifying spot.Sophomores Matt Mahnke (645) and Raiden Younkin (588) of Brookside finished Nos. 4 and 15."It feels great. It's awesome. It's great to make it as a team," said Matt Mahnke. "I have a bunch of good teammates. They just keep going, especially after that second game. We knew it was going to be very close. We knew it was going to be a dogfight. We just pulled it out. Spare bowling was so important. I struggled with it but the rest of the team was lights out."Junior Chase Davis (549) and senior Christian Ortiz 537) also finished in the top 30 for Brookside."It was a nail-biter. A heck of a tournament," said Brookside coach Matt Mahnke, Matt's dad. "Down to the wire the whole way. It was all about maintaining that positivity throughout. It was just a combination of making some slight adjustment to our angles. We were playing the lanes a little too open. We changed out balls with a couple of them and it paid off."Freshman Gavin Toothman (593) and senior Gus Hoops (584) led Keystone, as they finished Nos. 13 and 16."It was a grind," Keystone boys coach Kevin Minnich said. "All of our practice finally paid off. We had a few bad breaks, just some craziness. Kids kept their cool."It didn't appear that Mate was ever going to break through at the sectional level. The Pirates senior finished 25th last year with a 523 after placing 21st (496) and 26th (517) as a sophomore and a freshman."I had a pretty good line. That's why I didn't miss right," said Mate. "I mostly struck. The lanes actually broke down in my favor. As we went on I could actually miss to the right a little more and get it to hold. It actually helped me later on. It helped just staying positive, going one frame at a time, moving on from mistakes and just stringing together strikes better."Contact Paul Heyse at (440) 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.BoysTop 4 teams advance to Northeast District at Rebman Rec, Feb. 201. Coventry 4,139; 2. Brooklyn 3,891; 3. Brookside 3,874; 4. Keystone 3,838; 5. Oberlin 3,822 (16 pins behind); 6. Lutheran West 3,817; 7. Fairview 3,622; 8. Clearview 3,516; 9. Elyria Catholic 3,438; 10. Open Door 3,389; 11. Norwayne 3,234; 12. Firelands 3,199; 13. Black River 3,138; 14. Holy Name 2,986; 15. Wellington 2,908; 16. Columbia 2,878Individual district qualifiers — 41. Hunter Mate (Black River), 688; 2. Le'Don Baxter (Lincoln West), 669; 3. Parker Karp (Fairview), 621; 4. Conor Fitzpatrick (Elyria Catholic), 614High series1. Aidan Jensen (Coventry), 688; 2. Mate, 688; 3. Baxter, 669; 4. Matthew Mahnke (Brookside), 647; 5. Ryan Hilcu (Brooklyn), 645; 6. Owen Eder (Coventry), 641; 7. Parker Karp (Fairview), 621; 8. Wade Allen (Coventry), 616; 9. Fitzpatrick, 614; 10. Corwin Singleton (Oberlin), 612. Other top local bowlers: 13. Gavin Toothman (Keystone), 593; 15. Raiden Younkin (Brookside), 588; 16. Gus Hoops (Keystone), 584; 20. Aaron Kahnert (Clearview), 557High game1. Jensen, 279; 2. Sam Marcum (Open Door), 269; 3. Karp, 257; 4. Eder, 256; 5. Adam Cowper (Brooklyn), 248; 6. Baxter, 245; 7. Mate, 244; 8. Kahnert and Hilcu, 242; 9. Tristan Badertscher (Norwayne), 238; 10. Mahnke, 226. Other top local bowlers: Hoops, 224; Toothman and Singleton, 219; Fitzpatrick, 214; Landon Boardwine (Open Door), 213; Preston Cawthern (Oberlin), 209GirlsTop 4 teams advance to Northeast District at Rebman Rec, Feb. 211. Open Door 3,219; 2. Oberlin 2,740; 3. Firelands 2,626; 4. Elyria Catholic 2,608; 5. Keystone 2,600; 6. Wellington 2,409; 7. Clearview 2,208; 8. Columbia 2,155; 9. Fairview 2,139; 10. Coventry 2,023Individual district qualifiers — 41. Kaitlyn Drew (Keystone), 407; 2. Karleigh Goble (Black River), 404; 3. Brooke Yeager (Keystone), 403; 4. Piper Erman (Columbia), 146High series1. Abby Hopkins (Open Door), 534; 2. Katie Smith (Firelands), 529; 3. Hannah Thomas (Open Door), 480; 4. Keira Phillips (Oberlin), 467; 5. Linda Kinnear (Open Door), 454; 6. Rosie Street (Oberlin), 435; 7. Christina Fridenstine (Oberlin), 411; 8. Drew, 407; 9. Ella Saven (Elyria Catholic), 405; 10. Goble, 404. Other top local bowlers: 11. Gracie Thur (Elyria Catholic), 403; 12. Lyra Miller (Firelands), 403; 13. Yeager, 403; 14. Molly Felty (Open Door), 400; 15. Erman, 397; 16. Courage Bielawski (Open Door), 393; 17. Abigail Blodgett (Wellington), 393; 18. Brooklyn Regal (Wellington), 386High game1. Smith, 195; 2. Street, 187; 3. Hopkins, 186. Other top local bowlers: Thur, 184; Saven, 178; Bielawski, 172; Thomas, 170; Phillips, 169; Regal, 158; Kinnear, 156; Fridenstine, 154; Drew, 153; Miller, 152