vikingssportsn The Hopewell Vikings participated in the annual Midwestern Athletic Conference (MAC) Tournament at Sim’s Lanes on Saturday submitting 4 teams into three different divisions featuring 12 schools, 36 teams and 190+ high school bowlers. To say the Vikings had a banner day for their program would be an understatement.
The plan was always next year.
The Viking Men were walking into the tournament with 4/5 of their Varsity starters being underclassmen. The Lady Vikings were starting five Juniors, two of which are bowling for their first time. They both faced senior heavy teams and were aiming to leave the tournament with top three finishes with the hope that experience would help next year where the goal would be to win the tournament.
The Vikings decided not to wait.
The JV Vikings started the action by winning the silver division. Junior Will Holland, who operated as the sixth man for the Varsity team all year, shot the highest game IN THE TOURNAMENT with a career high 248 and his first career 600 series with a 612. Holland led the JV Vikings to a tournament win as his finish was good for first team all-tournament, #2 overall in the division. Holland was followed by junior Aiden “AJ” Klette who added a 522 series and a second team all-tournament finish and sophomore Thomas Turino who made the all-tournament third team with a 451 series.
Holland, Klette, & Turino were joined by sophomore Jordan Jacobs and freshman Desmond Sembower who completed their division winning team.
Hopewell also submitted an underclassmen silver team led by sophomore Diego Ocasio who shot a career high 169 game and 399 series and sophomore Joe Bulebush who added a 389 series to the team rounded out by sophomore Sam Bologna and freshmen Nathan Cronin, Caleb Hughes and Frankie Taylor. Despite being made up entirely of underclassmen, this team finished 7/9 in their tournament division.
The Lady Vikings then took their turn, and they made it look easy.
After a third place finish last year, the Lady Vikings ran away with the lady’s division with a 175-pin victory started off by a team high 751 game to start the tournament. The Lady Vikings were the only team in the field to break 700 all day, had the highest game in each individual game, and posted the three highest scores in the tournament with a 751-690-678 series. The Lady Vikings defeated the three-time defending champion, Montour Spartans in a victory that showed how far the program has come in a few short years.
Led by FIVE all-tournament team finishes, Junior captain Annabeth Sembower posted the second highest game in the tournament with a 184 and the third highest series with a 527, good for all-tournament first team for the second straight year at the MAC for Sembower. She was joined on the all-tournament first team by fellow junior and third year letter winner Krysten Clary who led the Vikings in game 1 with a career high 170 game and career high 451 series to make the first team for the first time in her MAC career.
Juniors Marlee Page (385), Eileen George (383) and Danica Jackson (373) all made the all-tournament third team rounding out the effort for the Vikings where all five starting women as Juniors finished in the top 15 of the tournaments individually. Freshman Lacey Seretti was also able to contribute a few shots to the effort that saw the Lady Vikings win the prestigious title a year ahead of schedule.
Finally, the men’s gold team was up, and they took it down to the wire.
The Vikings over-achieved last year with a surprising second place finish in the tournament. They came into the tournament this year ranked second overall and were looking for a top three finish. Instead, the Vikings decided they were also going to be impatient, and they were going to win the tournament a year ahead of schedule as well.
The Vikings were led by junior Ayden Gault who put together the most complete tournament performance of his career so far. Gault shot a 245-216-196 and a 657 series individually and anchored the Vikings Baker game series throwing the tournament deciding tenth frame for the Vikings who defeated section rival and defending champions, New Castle, by 27 pins to win the MAC tournament.
Gault’s 245 served as the highest game in the gold division and his 657 series placed as the second highest total – good for first team all-tournament for the first time in his career.
Junior Aidan Heppner added a 218 game and 564 series, and sophomore Nolan Houy scored a 543 series to see both bowlers make the all-tournament third team. Houy might have been the tournament hero, converting a huge 4-9 split in the second Baker game that changed all of the momentum in the Vikings favor.
The team was rounded out by senior captain Brayden Mowry, who admittedly struggled early in the day, but rolled out of the lead-off spot for the Vikings in their Baker games and went a perfect 6/6 with marks in the Baker format.
The plan was always next year, but the Vikings’ impatience changed everything.
