Jeff Strong now has a complete set of medals from the Bowl B.C. youth provincial championships.
Strong, from Prince George's Black Diamond Lanes, rolled to gold in the junior boys singles category at provincials. On the lanes in Kamloops, he posted a five-game total of 1,134 and beat runner-up Josh Burgmann of Nanaimo by 134 pins. Strong's game scores were 198, 257, 232, 235 and 212.
In 2009, Strong was part of a junior team that bowled to bronze at the B.C. championships. And, in 2008, he and his junior mates were silver medalists.
Thanks to his golden effort this year, Strong will now represent the province at nationals, May 7-9 in Regina.
Also in singles competition at this year's provincials, Black Diamond's Darci Shelke finished in the medals. She was on target for bronze in the senior girls singles division. In five games, she piled up 1,108 points (game scores of 249, 184, 218, 189 and 268). Shelke finished behind champion Brittany Atkinson of Port Coquitlam (1,257) and runner-up Brittany Dacosta of Langley (1,158).
In junior girls singles, Paige Meise of Prince George's Nechako Lanes ended up fourth with a total score of 879. The winner, Erin Sakamoto of Vernon, finished with a score of 985.
In team competition, the Black Diamond crew of Kassidy Johnson, Jenny Browne, Tiana Tecson and Lezzyl Aquino claimed silver in the junior girls division. Their four-game score of 2,994 wasn't enough to catch the frontrunners from Surrey, who posted a total of 3,050.
Meanwhile, in the bantam girls event, Black Diamond bowlers Jocelyn Meise, Jesslyn Arnett, Morgen Poitras and Kiara Browne came home with bronze medals. Meise and her mates completed play with a score of 2,119. The winning team, from Vernon, finished at 2,333.
In the senior girls competition, the Black Diamond team of Deanna Montgomery, Natasha Oelke, Danielle Chretien and Jessica Hawley placed sixth with a score of 2,766.
Bantams are 10-and-under, juniors are 11-14 and seniors are 15-19.
