BEAVERCREEK — Tyler Keck was one of three bowlers with 708 series Wednesday in the Division II Southwest District Bowling Championship at Beaver-Vu Lanes.
Keck, Peyton Leeson of Mechanicsburg and Nate Heath of Finneytown finished with identical three-game series to earn individual top honors in the tournament.
Keck bowled a 300 game, the first of his career, to get his day started. He followed with 279 and 129 games and earned a trip to next week’s state tournament.
However, Keck and his Massie teammates were eight pins out of fourth place, the final team place to qualify for the state event.
“Pretty frustrating,” said CM head coach Tyler Hayslip. “The guys just didn’t make the right adjustments. They tried to recover in the bakers but weren’t carrying through.”
Four other Clinton County bowlers also competed in the district tournament. Blanchester’s Ryan Brewer had a 615 series (225, 184, 209) to finish 22nd.
Bryan Brewer had a 512 series while East Clinton freshman Ricky Kempke bowled 472 and Blanchester’s Dakota Abney had 450.
In the team competition, Clinton-Massie started with games of 1,081 and 1,029, good enough for second place.
But the third game was just 888 and the first three baker games were 150, 165, 151. Despite Keck’s 300 and 279 games, the Falcons were not going to be able to make it as a team.
“We didn’t pick up enough spares,” Hayslip said. “Just one more spare in any game or any baker game would have put us over the top.”
Clinton-Massie’s Gavan Hunter had a 643 series (236 196, 211) to finish 14th overall.
Also for the Falcons, Cole Johnston had 578 (183, 184, 201), Braeden Adams 569 (216, 168, 185), Bryant Pinkerton 364 (202, 162) and Brandon Moritz 136 (136).
