NEWS RELEASE
MARIO'S BOWL
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The pins were flying at Mario’s Bowl last week as they hosted the Northern Ontario Boart Longyear Open Provincials.
Thunder Bay played host to the other five Northern Ontario contingents in this years provincial. The competition was fierce amongst some of the highest averaging 5-pin bowlers in the province.
Wednesday, April 13, saw the singles competition. After 10 games the Top 2 ladies and men’s spots were all awarded to Thunder Bay Bowlers. For the men, in second place was Taylor MICHEL(TB), averaging 284.1, landing only five points behind first place Greg DEGRAZIA(TB), averaging 284.6. On the lady’s side, second place was clinched by Amanda NICHOLS(TB), averaging 236.3, only 10 points behind first place Katie BONNIE(TB), averaging 237.3.
On Thursday, April 14 and Friday, April 15, the team events hit the lanes.
The Thunder Bay Mixed team (Adam GOOSE, John WILCOTT, Neil FELBEL, Ashley BACCARI, Codi MICHEL, Angela BEGIN, and Coach Doug GLENA) gave an incredible showing. After 15 games the team finished a solid 10 points ahead of third and on the heels of first by only 2.5 points.
The competition among the ladies was heated. The Thunder Bay Ladies (Amanda NICHOLS, Sam SITAR, Katie BONNIE, Michaela TURNER, Alyssa BONNIE, Paige HADLEY and Coach Brian BONNIE) hit the boards running and never slowed down. After their 20 games the ladies sat strong in first, a whopping 13 points ahead of Second.
Not to be outdone, the Thunder Bay Men’s team (Taylor MICHEL, Greg DEGRAZIA, Devin KLASSEN, Philip MAYO, Wesley SWOLUK, Matt SHONOSKY and Coach Bob TAYLOR) set their sights on the top and landed the first-place spot after their 20 games, with a heard earned 13 points ahead of their nearest competitors.
Early Saturday morning, bowlers prepared to defend their previous showing in the Stepladder finals.
The mixed team would watch as fourth seed Nickel District would defeat third seed Sunset Country (1194-851). Then it was their turn. Thunder Bay would take Nickel District 1154-907 to then face first seed Cambrian North. Needing to defeat Cambrian twice, Thunder Bay wasted no time, and handily secured their Gold with 1103-979 and 1149-1081.
The ladies team would hold their breath as the fourth seed Gold Belt took out third seed Sunset Country 1139-1082. Then second place seed Cambrian North would stop Sunset in their tracks 1046-901. Thunder Bay took Cambrian in a nail biter 1187-1137 to secure their Gold.
The men would wait on the edge of their seats to see fourth seed Gold Belt take third seed Sunset Country 1139-1082. Gold Belt would continue up the ladder, taking second seed Nickel District 1322-1155. In the final match Thunder Bay would tell Gold Belt that today was not their day by taking them down 1280-1266.
The incredible bowling and sportsmanship from the Thunder Bay contingent would earn them a Clean Sweep in all divisions and won them the Aggregate title with 73 points.
Three Thunder Bay Men and three Thunder Bay Ladies were awarded All Star medals. This is in earned by being within the top 5 highest averages throughout the tournament. For our ladies, Ashley BACCARI, Paige HADLEY and Sam SITAR and for the men, Greg DEGRAZIA, Philip MAYO and Devin KLASSEN were awarded this recognition.
Some special recognition awards were also presented to two well deserved Thunder Bay members.
Dennis UMAKOSHI was awarded an all-star medal from the 1986 C5PBA Open National Championship where he averaged 293.
Thunder Bay Manager Nancy ELLIOT was awarded the Pat McNamara Memorial Achievement Award for her involvement in the sport of bowling.
The success of the Thunder Bay bowlers has earned them the opportunity to represent Northern Ontario in the Opens Nationals in Newfoundland May 30-June 4 2022. Congratulations to all the competitors, organizers and volunteers on a successful event.
