ZANESVILLE — The Miami Trace Panthers bowling team took part in the Division I District tournament at Sunrise Strikes in Zanesville Monday, March 2.
The Panthers came home with the runner-up trophy, placing second out of nine teams with a 3,679 team score.
Senior Andrew Amore finished third out of 49 with a 580 series (games of 198, 201 and 181).
Senior Jay Caudill placed fifth with a 570 series (144, 229, 197).
Freshman Brendan Major was 12th with a 518 series (190, 166, 162).
Sophomore Connor Collins placed 14th with a 515 series (175, 197, 143).
Sophomore Jayden Brown bowled a 154 and a 184 for a 338 total, placing 35th.
Logan won the District championship and advances to State with a 3,737 team score.
Sheridan was third with a 3,539.
New Philadelphia was fourth (3,510), Dover was fifth (3,497), Zanesville was sixth (3,260), Chillicothe was seventh (3,210), Jackson was eighth (3,125) and River View was ninth (2,946).
Miami Trace had baker game scores of 194, 174, 147, 168, 179 and 170. Their baker total of 1,032 was second-highest in the tournament.
“After the team event, we were leading (the tournament),” Miami Trace head coach Ron Amore Sr. said. “I think we led it for the first couple of baker games. Then we had a couple of bad games and (Logan) went ahead of us. The last couple of games, they had bad games. We had a little better games than they did, but we couldn’t get anything put together to get around them again.
“Towards the end there, when the lanes got a little tough — I guess that’s the best way to put it, they were different because they were wooden lanes and they’re not used to that,” Amore said. “These lanes here (at LeElla Lanes) are synthetic. Wooden lanes are softer and the ball hooks more. When that got blown out, they got into a situation they hadn’t been in this year before. I knew what to do, but getting them to do it, because it was kind of out of their comfort zone, it was a little tougher to do.
“It was close,” Amore said. “I guess second place isn’t bad, but that isn’t what you go for. You go to win. I really felt bad, especially for Andrew and Jay (the team’s two seniors). I wanted to get them to State this year. They’ve worked hard. The whole team has had a very good year, they really have. They had two losses all year; one out of conference and one in conference. But we wound up winning the conference.
“Our goal was to get to State and we barely missed it,” Amore said. “But, somebody had to lose and unfortunately this year it had to be us, I guess. You can’t exactly say lose, because you finish second. We did beat seven of the teams that were there. But, our goal was to get to the top and we were close. We were very close.
“They’re all very nice kids,” Amore said. “All of them. I had to sit one of them down for half a match, but I think that woke him up. It really wasn’t a big deal. I think it helped him. It’s not unlike a lot of young people. Everyone of them are really good kids and I’m pleased with their work ethic and how hard they tried.
“It wasn’t a bad deal,” Amore said. “They did well, all year, they really did. I can’t complain. I wanted to do better, but, I’m supposed to want to do better, that’s my job. I’m very pleased with everyone of them, what they did.”
