Four youth bowlers from Prince George have earned the right to compete for five-pin Canadian titles.
At last weekend's Youth Bowling Canada provincial championships - a qualifier for nationals - junior boys teammates Spencer Ponto and Cylis Hendrickson claimed gold medals and a spot in the Canadian finals, as did senior girls teammates Kassidy Johnson and Paige Meise.
Ponto and Hendrickson are members of Nechako Lanes, while Johnson and Meise represent Black Diamond Lanes.
Provincials were held in Kelowna and followed a match play format. At the end of regulation, Ponto and Hendrickson were tied with Brenden Bachmeier and Jacob Garcia of Surrey's Scottsdale Lanes, each team with eight points. A roll-off was required, and the Prince George pair prevailed 412-378.
Meanwhile, Johnson and Meise were the class of their field. They finished their tournament with nine victories, two more than a Nanaimo team and a Trail team, which tied for second place. Nanaimo (Mikhayla Knott and Lauren Provencal) defeated Trail (Maclean Keraiff and Eliza Dawson) in a tiebreaker for silver.
Nationals are May 5-7 in Regina.
Prince George also had other medalists at provincials. In the senior boys singles tournament, Ben Hendrickson of Nechako won silver after he beat Trevor Noble of Port Coquitlam 301-206 in a roll-off. Both finished regulation with six match-play points. Adrian Kiss of Abbotsford, who had 10 points after match play, grabbed gold.
Silver medals also went to the Nechako senior boys team of Dean Florell and Corbin Taylor, and to the Black Diamond junior girls duo of Jadyn Arnett and Chiara Riise. Both local teams fell in roll-offs for gold.
Florell and Taylor (seven points in match play) were in a three-way playoff with teams from Port Coquitlam and Vernon. Port Coquitlam (Zachary Skipworth and Noah Erickson) took first place with a score of 552. Florell and Taylor rolled 485 and the Vernon team - Aidan Buckley and Kalvin Blaeser - had a score of 477.
As for Arnett and Riise, they tied with the Nanaimo team of Maranda Eby and Natalie McCallum with eight points in match play. In the roll-off for gold and the national berth, Eby and McCallum won 475-320.
Another Black Diamond bowler, senior girls singles competitor Lezzyl Aquino, placed fourth. She earned four points in match play, which left her out of a three-way playoff for gold. Players from Port Coquitlam (Dakota Heth), Vernon (Kayli Breitkreutz) and Nanaimo (Mikayla Eby) tied with six points. Heth was the eventual winner with a score of 258. She was followed by Breitkreutz (251) and Eby (250).
