Bowlers to compete against world’s best> Lenfest, Clark qualify for youth tourney

This isn’t even Jason Lenfest’s favorite game but it’s the one which will send him to an international competition.

The 20-year-old Hampden man and Hermon’s Jimmy Clark, 17, will compete in the international Coca-Cola Youth Bowling Championships July 10-13 in Columbus, Ohio.

“It was never my favorite,” Lenfest said. “I used to play backyard football, basketball, [Babe Ruth] baseball, softball, but I never played anything interscholastic.”

But the competition kept Lenfest, as a 13-year-old, going back to the Saturday morning Junior League at Family Fun Lanes in Bangor.

Clark also got his start in the Junior League, which is where he became fascinated with the game’s challenge.

“It’s challenging – you’re not just challenging other people, you’re challenging yourself, and in my point of view, you can never master it,” he said. “The lanes are different, so it’s always challenging.

“I just think it’s impossible to master it [because] to master it you have to average 300,” Clark explained. “I’m not going to say it’s impossible, but it’s close to it.”

The Hermon High junior with a 189 average will take on 64 athletes in the boys scratch division.

Lenfest will compete against 89 athletes in the boys handicap division for scholarship money.

First-place finishers will receive $3,000 in scholarship money, and second-, third-, and fourth-place bowlers will win $2,000, $1,500, and $1,000, respectively.

The pair qualified for the international tournament by rolling high scores in league and state qualifiers in April. The tournament involves 284 athletes, ages 12-21, from the 50 states, six Canadian provinces, Puerto Rico, and military commands in Europe, the Far East, and the Carribean.

Lenfest’s love of other sports, in particular softball, has hampered his training.

“I really should have [practiced], but I couldn’t walk for three weeks,” he said, mentioning his bad right ankle which was injured after he slid into third base and got caught underneath it June 2. “Before that I just thought I had plenty of time, so now it’s like, `uh oh.’ ”

“It’s my left foot, which is my slide foot, that’s the one you put all your weight on when you bowl,” he said.

As for Clark, he has taken time to practice his skills, including a stop in Westerly, R.I., while visiting family on his way to the competition.

“I’d like to make at least a top-10 finish, feel the ball well, and be able to gain the respect of other bowlers,” he said.

Competition begins July 11 when bowlers roll the first of three four-game blocks within their respective divisions. The field will be cut to the top 24 scorers in each division July 12, and the bowlers will start from scratch.

Those 24 semifinalists will bowl two additional four-game blocks to determine the top four scorers, who will bowl in roll-offs to determine the champions.