Pickerington Central bowling coaches are thrilled with the contributions of first-year competitor Nick McGuire, whose addition helped the boys team clinch the program’s first league championship.
The sport itself has brought McGuire something more intangible.
Seeking a release from what he described as school-related depression and anxiety, McGuire, a junior, was convinced by friends at Grace Fellowship Church — including Central bowler Alex Bookman — to give bowling a try. Having competed only occasionally and on a recreational basis, McGuire became a key in the Tigers’ successful regular season.
His average of 189.2 pins per game – including a high game of 244 and team-best series of 458 – was second on the team through 10 matches to Myles Etherington’s 190.2. Central finished 11-0 overall, 10-0 in the COHSBC-C Division and 6-0 in the OCC-Central with a 2,207-1,880 win over Reynoldsburg on Feb. 15.
“There was anxiety from schoolwork and stuff and bowling helped me get away from everything. I’m able to bowl away everything and just have fun,” McGuire said. “Even if I’m not doing great, I’m still having a lot of fun with what I’m doing.”
Brandon Bradley averaged 180.4 during the regular season, ahead of Bookman (175.4) and Jared Baden (162.8).
“(McGuire) has become one of the leaders. It’s fun to watch him and Myles go back and forth and feed off each other,” assistant coach Dave Bristle said. “(Head coach Jason) Roach worked with Nick, tweaking some things, and he’s taken off ever since. You take his score away, we lose a lot of pins a game. That’s been huge in some of these close matches we’ve had.”
McGuire kept his own expectations low entering the year.
“My goal was to average 150, but my mindset has changed because I feel I need to do more,” he said. “Now, my mindset is to average 170, but I’ve been way above that a lot of the time. I pick up a lot of spares. That’s been tremendously important.”
Central’s girls finished 10-1 overall, 9-1 in the COHSBC-C and 5-1 in the OCC-Central, second in both leagues to Gahanna.
Both teams will compete in Division I sectional tournaments at HP Lanes, with the boys bowling Feb. 25 and the girls the next day. The top 16 teams and top 16 individuals not on qualifying teams advance to district Feb. 28 at HP Lanes.
At district, the top three boys teams and top three individuals not on qualifying teams, and top four girls teams and top four individuals not on qualifying teams, advance to state. The boys state tournament is March 11 at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl, followed by the girls tournament the next day at the same facility.
•The North girls team has thrived on depth all season, with 10 bowlers competing in at least seven games. The top three has remained consistent, however, with Abby McFerin (158.2), Cait Rogers (124.8) and Maggie Burris (123.3) leading the way in 30, 37 and 36 games, respectively.
Delina Amanuel (107.9) and Caitlyn O’Malley (105.8) usually have rounded out the top five. The girls team finished the regular season at 7-4 overall and in the COHSBC-B and 3-3 in the OCC-Central.
“Our three mainstays have had really nice years. If they can bowl well and we can get some good scores out of the others, we have a good shot at district,” coach Mike Rossi said. “Abby puts in a lot of effort in the offseason. She goes to tournaments and works with a trainer. She really loves bowling and her scores reflect that. Maggie does a great job of helping keep everything organized and she’s gotten a lot better since she started bowling. Cait and Abby are both just sophomores, so that will be nice having them the next two years.”
Burris is a senior.
North’s boys team finished the regular season at 9-1 overall and in the COHSBC-B and 5-1 in the OCC-Central. The only loss was in its season opener, 2,371-2,349 to Central on Nov. 30.
The Panthers finished their regular season Feb. 1 and spent most of the month practicing, a stretch interrupted only by the boys competing in the COHSBC championship Feb. 12 at Gahanna Lanes. The Panthers won with a team score of 3,747.
“That (lapse in the schedule) is always a concern,” Rossi said. “But they enjoy competing and that helps us keep practice interesting. We have little competitions in practice. We’ll come up with something to make it that they’re always competing.”
dpurpura@thisweeknews.com
@ThisWeekDave