New Palestine bowler Aaron Pierson finished sixth in his first-ever appearance at the Indiana High School Bowling State Finals on Saturday at Cooper’s Sport Bowl in Anderson. The sophomore registered a three-game total of 626 that left him just 22 pins shy of the stepladder finals that eventually would produce the state champion.
McCutcheon’s Gavin Dubar won the title with a 209-203 final match victory against New Castle’s Wes Haltom. Dubar complied a three-game series of 686, ahead of Haltom (675), Northfield’s Brandon Keppel (671), Pendleton Heights’ Dylan Holford (648), Northridge’s Michael Schlabach (630) and Pierson (626) in the 24-man field.
In the team event, the Greenfield-Central boys, also making their first State Finals appearance, rolled an 829, 748 and 848 in three team portions (2,425 total) and failed to qualify for the team stepladder. The Cougars placed 12th out of 12 teams.
Angola took home the top prize after defeating Lake Central 342-284 in the final match of the stepladder competition.
In the girls competition, Lake Central beat Northrop 350-317 in the championship stepladder match.
Jacqueline Rhoda of Portage beat Sarah Voiers of Chesterton 222-179 for the girls title. Rhoda had a 643 series.
BOYS BASKETBALL
Avon cruises past Greenfield-Central
The Cougars dropped their second straight game Saturday at Avon, falling to the Orioles 75-41.
Avon (6-15) maintained control through the entire game, taking a 35-21 lead in the the break and more than doubled the advantage before the end of the contest.
Greenfield-Central (9-14) closes out its regular-season schedule with a tilt Thursday at Plainfield (6-14). The Cougars then prepare for New Castle Sectional action March 4 against Anderson (5-16).
Weather delays weekend games
Saturday’s inclement weather postponed a pair of Hancock County boys basketball games.
New Palestine’s contest against Whiteland (10-12), which was scheduled for Saturday evening, has been moved to tonight at Whiteland. The JV game tips off at 6 p.m., and the varsity follows at 7:30 p.m. The Dragons (10-10) will close out the regular season at home Friday against Greenwood (3-18).
Mt. Vernon’s game against common Sectional 9 foe Richmond (19-3) also was postponed and will not be made up.
The Marauders (11-8) host Westfield (4-17) tonight and close the regular season at home against Yorktown (16-5 overall, 3-3 Hoosier Heritage Conference) Friday. Mt. Vernon, 4-2 in league play, can finish in a tie for second place in the HHC with Greenfield-Central with a victory. Pendleton Heights (17-5, 6-1) is the conference champ.
