Boys state bowling: Amherst, Avon Lake finish third, sixth, respectively

Amherst and Avon Lake performed admirably at Friday's 20th annual Division I boys state bowling tournament at Columbus' HP Lanes.The Comets and Shoremen finished third and sixth, respectively, in the 16-team tournament. Amherst and Avon Lake emerged third and fifth from the qualifying round to make the Elite Eight or championship round.The No. 3 seeded Amherst got by No. 6 seed Ashland 3-2 in the quarterfinals before losing to No. 2 Cincinnati Elder 3-1 in the semifinals. The fifth-seeded Shoremen were eliminated by No. 4 seed Cincinnati St. Xavier 3-0 in the quarterfinals.St. Xavier defeated Elder 3-1 for the state title.Four from Amherst and Avon Lake earned All-Ohio (top 15).Amherst senior Grant Taylor placed third (256-218-226-706) for high series behind Gahanna Lincoln senior Kael Clous (232-255-233-720) and Cincinnati St. Xavier junior Jack Kaiser (221-218-276-715) to earn first-team honors (top five).Taylor's third-place finish in Division I singles is the highest singles finish by a Lorain County boy at the Division I state meet since North Ridgeville's Justin Harnden finished second in 2009."I love to give all the glory to God, to my family and the amazing people I'm surrounded by. It helps to make this all possible," said Taylor. "The reason that it all worked out is that I trusted in myself all day. I went out there and bowled just as well as I could, do what I needed to and utilized whatever we've been practicing on all season."Team-wise, I'm extremely proud of these guys. I couldn't have done it without them. I ended up having a lot of close calls against Ashland and ended up making some shots that helped us to win that match. It was a team effort. It was one shot at a time from each guy. We just went out there and made it happen. I'm just sorry we couldn't it done against Elder."Amherst needed a roll-off in Game 3 in the best 3 of 5 Baker quarterfinal against Ashland. Taylor won the roll-off 53-50 over Ashland senior Max Oeken to take third-game tiebreaker, which prevented Amherst from falling behind 2-1."Max is a great competitor and a very good friend," said Taylor. "It was a very close match and I'm glad we got away with that one. We've been gunning for Ashland. They are one of the best schools in the nation. We were ready for this moment since the first practice."Comets senior Garrett Smith (202-229-254-685) finished in a three-way for fifth but dropped to seventh via the higher game score tiebreaker behind Cincinnati Elder senior Jayden Brown and Cincinnati St. Xavier sophomore Luke Stigall to make All-Ohio second team (top 10)."We bowled great. We didn't have a lot of errors," said Smith. "We did what we said we were going to do. We put the work in to make it there. We made good shots. Grant was a big help being our anchor. He was getting in there and punching out for us. We had some good shots and good energy versus Elder, but it was a long day. We went for it. Wish we could have gone further. We bowled well today."Amherst junior Ethan Burich (238-223-201-662) and Avon Lake senior Jeffrey Toth (247-205-202-654) placed 14th and 15th, respectively, to earn All-Ohio honorable mention (top 15).Amherst struggled in its previous two state appearances, placing 10th in 2023 and 16th in 2024."It was a great run. I'm very proud of these young men," said Amherst coach Steve Taylor, Grant's dad. "They put it all out there and have nothing to be ashamed of. They played as a team. We just came up a little short. This is my last year coaching, going to travel watching my two kids bowl in college. I want to thank the school for giving me the opportunity to help build an amazing program."Toth was pleased with Avon Lake's efforts, though the Shoremen were unable to advance beyond the quarterfinals."To get to the state tournament, make the top eight as a team, getting top 15th individual and earning honorable mention is all I could have ever asked for in my final season," said Toth. "To do it with such a great group of guys is the cherry on top."Toth was supported by sophomore Chris Richard (22nd, 632), freshman Cooper Poling (29th, 611) and senior Luke Slogar (49th, 572)."Today was fun, actually," said Avon Lake coach Chaz Velasquez. "I thought we started off not very good (989 first game), but OK. When I saw all the other first-game scores, I saw that everyone was basically on the same playing field, except for Amherst, who came out the gate on fire."To qualifying fifth (for the championship) round in that field was a true blessing in itself. One kid struggled another kid picked him up. I brought in Vaughn Kocka in the third game and he gave us a 245 game, which was huge, especially someone that hasn't seen a lot of action in the sectional or district. It was pretty much next man up. Chris Richard, our sophomore, had 460 after two games."It was a fun day. The kids never got down. We grinded it out all day. We got done and the kids kept their heads up. We got some good promise coming up for next year as well."Contact Paul Heyse at 329-7135 or ctsports@chroniclet.com.Team scoresqualifying round (top 8 advance)1, Centerville 4,236; 2. Cincinnati Elder 4,213; 3. Amherst 4,130; 4. Cincinnati St. Xavier 4,106; 5. Avon Lake 4,068; 6. Ashland 4,035; 7. St. Ignatius 3,924; 8. Gahanna Lincoln 3,915; 9. Hillsboro 3,878; 10. Hilliard Darby 3,719; 11. Beavercreek 3,674; 12. Xenia 3,670; 13. Marysville 3,595; 14. Celina 3,571; 15. Boardman 3,454; 16. Uniontown Lake 3,452Championship roundBest 3-of-5 BakerQuarterfinalsNo. 8 Gahanna Lincoln def. No. 1 Centerville, 3-1; No. 4 Cincinnati St. Xavier def. No. 5 Avon Lake, 3-0; No. 2 Cincinnati Elder def. No. 6 St. Ignatius 3-2; No. 3 Amherst def. No. 7 Ashland, 3-2SemifinalsCincinnati St. Xavier def. Gahanna Lincoln, 3-2; Cincinnati Elder def. Amherst, 3-1ChampionshipCincinnati St. Xavier def. Cincinnati Elder, 3-1High series1, Kael Klous (Gahanna Lincoln), 720; 2. Jack Kaiser (St. Xavier), 715; 3. Grant Taylor (Amherst), 706. Other top local bowlers in top 15 (All-Ohio); 6. Garrett Smith (Amherst), 685; 14. Ethan Burich (Amherst), 662; 15. Jeffrey Toth (Avon Lake), 654. Other local bowlers: 22. Chris Richard (Avon Lake), 632; 29. Cooper Poling (Avon Lake), 611; 40. Brady Smith (Amherst), 586; 47. Trenton Roberts (Amherst), 573; 49. Luke Slogar (Avon Lake), 572High game1, Kaiser, 276; 2. Owen Emerick (Louisville), 269; 3. Jay Reno (Hillsboro), 268; 4. Jayden Brown (Elder), 267. Top local bowlers: Taylor, 256; Garrett Smith, 254; Toth, 247; Vaughn Kocka (Avon Lake), 245; Burich, 238; Richard, 233; Poling, 226; Brady Smith, 218; Slogar, 212; Roberts, 202; William Sindelar (Avon Lake), 169