HARRISBURG — Gavin Courtney bowled a pretty good game. His 234 would have won a lot of matches.
But Saturday at the District Three Bowling Championships at ABC North Lanes, Governor Mifflin’s Jayden Breidenstein was better, rolling seven straight strikes after an open in the fourth for a 245 in their semifinal match.
The loss ended Courtney’s attempt at a second straight sweep of the four postseason honors for Lancaster-Lebanon League bowlers and a third straight district crown. The Garden Spot senior had already notched the L-L boys title on Feb. 6.
“Obviously, it’s a little bit of a letdown,” said a disappointed Courtney. “Obviously, eight-for-eight was the goal. But that’s out of the window now.
“It is what it is. I can’t do anything about it now.”
He had a split and two spares to go with his nine strikes.
“The split I knew I kind of pulled a little bit,” he said. “The two 9-spares were pretty good. They just never turned the corner.”
Interestingly enough, Breidenstein went on to win the district boys title, matching Courtney’s 234 to defeat Mechanicsburg’s Jackson Coy, who rolled a 210.
Things were going according to plan heading into the single elimination finals, where the top six bowlers in qualifying advanced. Courtney was 100 pins better than Coy with a total of 1,270.
“I felt decent all day,” Courtney said.
That sent Courtney and Coy straight to the semifinals.
Courtney was 145 pins better in qualifying than Donegal senior Michael Berg, who qualified third. Berg took on Elizabethtown senior Mason Moore, who was sixth, in the first round, where Moore advanced with a 214-187 total. Moore’s next match against Coy, again interestingly enough, had virtually the exact same score, though reversed, as Coy won 213-187. Moore finished third, after a fourth-place finish last year, and Berg was fifth.
Spring Grove sophomore Clayton Tyndall placed sixth; he was the only underclassman in the final six.
Courtney’s third-place finish didn’t diminish his accomplishments, according to Garden Spot coach Lloyd Steinmetz.
“Honestly, what he has been doing the last two years has been remarkable,” Steinmetz said. “It doesn’t happen. And there’s a reason for that. Bowling, just like any other sport, there’s ups and downs. Good breaks and bad breaks. We ran into a little bit of a bad break today.”
“Honestly, Gavin makes everybody bowl better,” Steinmetz added. “Everybody loves him, but they’re all gunning for him too.”
While a second sweep is no longer possible, there are two more titles remaining.
“I have to put this one behind me as of now and focus on regionals next week,” said Courtney of next weekend’s Eastern Regional, with the Pennsylvania State High School Bowling Championships in three weeks.
Moore edged out Hempfield senior Blake Garman by two pins in qualifying and was just five better than Northern Lebanon junior Heath DiNunzio.
Only one L-L girl advanced to the single elimination finals. Conestoga Valley junior Grace Martin totaled 965 pins — edging out Donegal freshman Mia Gehman by two pins — to qualify sixth, but lost to Central Dauphin East senior Rayana Gonzalez 257-161. Gonzalez finished third — her third top-three finish in the last three years — after falling 205-202 to eventual champion Aaliyah Hall of York Tech in the semifinals. Hall won 260-244 over top qualifier Malia Briggs of Chambersburg in the final.
The Eastern Regional will be held next Friday and Saturday at Clearview and Leisure Lanes.
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