Knox County bowlers strut their stuff at KMAC tournament

Three Knox County boys’ bowlers have dominated the field all season with their prowess on the lanes. After turning their attention to the tournament portion of the schedule, the dominance continued.

East Knox’s Blake Calhoon (211.8 per game average), Fredericktown’s Jordan Moore (207.4) and Centerburg’s Michael Wallace (192.5) have been three of the best four in average in the Knox Morrow Athletic Conference during the regular season. At the league tournament on Sunday, they once again were near the top.

Moore finished as runner-up individually to Mount Gilead’s Mason Hupfer in the tournament, rolling a 636 series. Hupfer fired a 654 to win the individual title. Moore had games of 180-267-189 on the day with his 267 game second for the season only to Calhoon’s 268.

Wallace finished fourth overall with a 594 series and Calhoon was seventh with a 546 series. Moore’s teammate Mason Gearhart had a solid day, finishing sixth with a 550 series.

Mount Gilead continued its dominance as a team, winning the tournament title as well as the regular season title after rolling a score of 3,806. Northmor was second at 3,606, followed by Fredericktown (3,482), East Knox (3,429), Cardington (2,911), Centerburg (2,693) and Crestline (2,225).

On the girls’ side, East Knox’s Kelsey Jensen, who finished the season with the highest game average at 174.9, was the tournament runner-up with a 522 series. Northmor’s Audrey Hammond shot 564 to win the individual title.

Fredericktown’s Maddie Bartlett came in fourth overall with a 503 series.

Northmor, which dominated the regular season, had four individuals in the top eight and cruised to the team title with a score of 3,267. Fredericktown finished second at 2,886, followed by Cardington (2,656), Crestline (2,498), Mount Gilead (2,460), East Knox (2,026) and Centerburg (2,015).

The teams will now head to HP Lanes in Columbus for the Division II sectional tournament. The girls will bowl on Friday, Feb. 13, at 11 a.m., while the boys hit the lanes on Saturday, Feb. 14, at 11 a.m.