Hilliard Davidson finishes third at state
Hilliard Davidson made its first appearance as a team in the Division I state boys bowling tournament a memorable one, leading the field through the qualifying rounds and finishing third overall Saturday at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl.
Led by junior Caelen Guthrie’s seventh-place finish (674) in the individual standings, the Wildcats bowled a 3,701 through three individual games and three Baker games but lost to fourthseeded Kettering Fairmont 3-1 (164-211, 204-126, 233-224, 224-219) in a semifinal.
Top-seeded Davidson defeated eighth-seeded Hillsboro 3-1 (181-187, 181149, 244-202, 246-169) in the first round.
Third-seeded Beavercreek edged Fairmont 3-2 (211-225, 194-179, 179-196, 225-168, 217-182) in the final.
Davidson was trying to win the area’s second team championship and first since Westerville Central in 2017.
Wildcats Junior Nicholas Bremer was 15th (654), followed by junior Derek Wellman (38th, 596), freshman Aiden Lieb (59th, 566) and junior Andy Wellman
(96th, 160).
Jonathan Alder sophomore Drew Damron was individual runner-up by two pins, rolling a 705 to finish just behind Beavercreek junior Carson Shroyer.
Damron had games of 204, 255 and 246 to lead area individuals in the top 10. Westerville Central senior Kyle Richardson
was sixth (675).
Davidson was the only area team to make the finals.
Westerville Central finished 11th (3,269) in its first state appearance since 2019, and Big Walnut was 14th (3,252) in its state debut.
Junior Logan Henslee bowled a 572 series for Central and tied for 56th, followed by sophomore Aiden Turner (tied for 62nd, 562), junior Ben Cantieri (72nd, 524) and freshman Mason Henslee (89th, 351).
Big Walnut junior Aidan Furukawa, the district champion, tied for 29th (610). Sophomore Dominic Borton was 54th (573), followed by junior Nick Green (61st, 563), seniors Shane Longshore (86th, 360) and Connor Tracy (90th, 344) and sophomore Tino Tucci (97th, 148).
Among central Ohio’s other individual qualifiers, Marion Harding’s senior duo of Jayden Combs and Jordan Hensley placed 24th (626) and 45th (587), respectively. Combs was the individual champion as a sophomore in 2021.
Olentangy Orange senior Jay Mccorkle finished 71st (533). dpurpura@dispatch.com @dp_dispatch