Jentes delivers clutch performance as Wooster girls win OCC bowling title

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Photo gallery: Wooster boys, girls bowling at Ohio Cardinal Conference Championships

Generals earn conference honors and celebrate team success at the Ohio Cardinal Conference meet

Three years ago Wooster junior Mackenzie Jentes was an incoming freshman who wanted to learn how to bowl. Now she is the toast of the city of Wooster after delivering an Ohio Cardinal Conference championship with a clutch performance Jan. 31 that will be remembered at Wayne Lanes.

“Three years ago five freshmen walked through the door and had never touched a bowling ball. She was one of them,” Generals coach Tracie Leiendecker said. “She was like, ‘I want to learn how to bowl,’ and she took it and ran with it. She wants to bowl in college, and so she puts a lot of effort into doing things right fundamentally so that she can be prepared to go to the next level.”

In a best-of-three with conference rival and defending OCC champion West Holmes, the Generals were holding on to a 162-131 lead in the third round entering the final frame. That is when Jentes delivered back-to-back strikes and then finished off with a six to give Wooster an insurmountable 188-131 advantage. Effectively, that brought the title back to Wooster, and along the way, Jentes was named the OCC Girls Bowler of the Year and was the high bowler at the OCC tournament with a 601.

“I was just thinking, ‘Relax and throw a good shot,’ and then I struck,” Jentes said. “I have a team that supports me, but I also have a cycle that I go through. I clean off my ball, I take some deep breaths, focus, count my steps in my head, and I just go through the motions.”

As for the emotions afterward.

“I am just in awe. This year we’ve done really well,” she said. “Most of us are returning bowlers, and we’ve worked really hard. We’ve focused on fundamentals, making good spares and getting strikes. It’s just really been an amazing year.”

“That was intense,” Leiendecker said. “I made a mistake on the scoring, thinking we had already won the OCC, and I told the girls, ‘Just go forward.’ There was a lot on the line, and I am glad that I convinced myself there wasn’t because it would have been a lot more stressful if I realized that we had to win that last game.”

Jentes had plenty of company, as joining her on the all-conference first team was teammate and senior Morgan Covey. On the second team were senior Ainsley Shetler, juniors Mallory Legg and Cadence Anna, and freshman Abby Sanders.

“Wooster is an amazing team, and we’re all really good friends,” Jentes said. “We all hang out. We practice together, even if we don’t have practice, and it’s really just us working together that makes us good bowlers.

“I just enjoy everyone. It’s really fun. We’re really supportive of each other. We’re really good friends, and it’s what we do together that really pushes us forward. That’s my favorite part — bowling with my friends.”

On the day, her teammate Anna joined her on the all-conference tourney team as she finished second with a 590. Just missing the cut but with a standout performance was Shetler, who fired a 509.

“I am ecstatic with our performance,” Leiendecker said. “The girls performed for each other. I have eight girls, and we bowled all eight in the finals. Everybody had a responsibility, and they all performed above and beyond, and I am proud of them.”

On the boys side, the Generals finished third with a 4,071 and were led by Gavin Ennis with games of 258, 247 and 175 for a total of 680. Owen Schneider added a 654, Kellen Buckley had a 597, Jayden Wills fired a 544 and Aiden Coleman finished with a 522.

“We had some really good bowling and some really bad bowling at crucial moments,” Wooster boys coach Dave Ennis said. “When you’re bowling Bakers, you have to fill the frames, and we didn’t do that. The other teams bowled really well, so we would have had to bowl really well.”

As for assessing his team’s performance on the day.

“We are about where we are talent-wise,” Ennis said. “Ashland is a juggernaut. They are really good bowlers, and New Philadelphia is the same way. We’re kind of young.”

Individually, Ennis was happy with his team’s performance in the OCC Championships.

“Gavin has been solid all year, as he should be,” he said. “He’s been bowling for a while. He is a senior and a leader, and Owen will be here next year and will be a senior, and it will be his turn. Owen’s come a long way this year, and we’ve got a lot of good bowlers who are very coachable. Next year we should be very competitive too.”

Both Ennis and Schneider were named to the conference’s second team.

Looking ahead, both Wooster teams will compete in the OHSAA tournament.

“We really have to make good shots,” Jentes said. “It’s a harder pattern. Today was a house shot. We usually have a lot of room with these patterns, but now we have a pattern we aren’t used to. We are definitely going to get a lot of practice in for it. We are going to make sure that we are as best prepared as we can be so that we can move on to districts as a team this year.”