The Merritt Bowling Centre team (standing, left to right): Mary Angus, Chandra Bonthoux, James Isaac, Lori Walker, Rick Walker, Kayla Wingo, Derek Cornies, Sharon McIvor, (kneeling) coach Stuart Cornies, Don Kraus, (missing) Bill McNeil. (Submitted photo)
The Merritt Bowling Centre team rolled its way to a third-place finish at the Inter-City ‘B’ Championships, held in town on Saturday.
The 10-member Merritt squad, comprised of five men and five ladies, racked up an aggregate score of 11,290 to finish just 222 points behind Salmon Arm in second, and 277 back of the defending champions from Vernon’s Lincoln Lanes.
A total of eight teams took part in the annual competition between B.C. Interior communities.
The event ran from six in the morning until seven at night, with an awards banquet afterwards at the Legion Hall.
Merritt finished second in the men’s competition, just 53 points behind Vernon, and fourth in ladies’ action. The mixed team placed third, only 50 points back of top spot.
A couple of individual honours were won by Merritt bowlers. Rookie Lori Walker took the overall ladies’ block title for her four-game total of 862. The men’s block award went to the Nicola Valley’s Harold Aljam (1,061) who was on loan to the team from Golden for Saturday’s competition.
Aljam wasn’t far off the mark in the battle for the day’s highest single game score. He rolled a 323 to place second behind Vernon’s Wayne Shultz (341). The ladies’ top single game was a 269 by Mary Mckenzie from Kamloops.
The Inter-City ‘A’ Championships are scheduled for March 18 and 19 in Vernon and Kelowna.
