Organizers hoping to expand bowling tourney

If Judy Marshall has her way, last weekend’s first-ever high school tenpin tournament will get the bowling ball rolling toward varsity high school sport status.

Despite a low turnout (only four of the 39 teams invited actually competed), Saturday afternoon’s Maine State High School Bowling Tournament at Interstate Bowling Center in Hallowell could be the first of many.

“I envision this as a winter sport if it ever gets to varsity status,” said Marshall, the marketing manager for Interstate as well as Strike Ten Bowling in Waterville. “I was hoping for 12 teams, but the weather was quite good and the spring season was such that a lot of kids were committed to other sports … Hey, you have to start somewhere.”

Speaking of starts, the answer to future, in-state trivia questions is Waterville. The question? Who was the first high school team to win a state bowling tourney title?

Senior Matt Pantermoller led his Waterville club team to victory by bowling a three-game series score of 654. His team finished with 2,547 points in the 24-points system, which pits two, five-member teams against each other.

In the system, each team’s bowler competes against their counterpart on the other team in three games. A player’s win in a game is worth one point, a team’s win is worth two, and a team winning the series takes three.

The other clubs competing were from Waterville, Cony in Augusta, and Monmouth Academy.

The tournament was a direct offshoot of the Kennebec Valley High School Bowling Club, a new, 12-week league that debuted this past winter and attracted eight teams from the central Maine area.

“We’ve gotten very, very good feedback from the kids who were involved and we attracted some sponsors, so hopefully each year we can get more sponsors and interest,” said Marshall, who has made her living in the bowling biz for the last 15 years.

Marshall is already at work revamping the tournament format to attract more teams and stimulate further interest.

“I really think the timing wasn’t right and we needed to have this when it was still cold outside and spring sports hadn’t started yet,” Marshall explained. “So the league will run December through March instead of December through April.”

Although no schools currently have freshman, JV or varsity bowling programs, several have or will soon start up club teams.

“The ultimate goal is to get bowling accredited as a varsity sport in three or four years. The MPA [Maine Principals’ Assocation] told us the best place to start was the club level,” Marshall said.

Marshall, who said Lewiston is starting a high school club while Skowhegan and Messalsonskee of Oakland already have one, believes she and her fellow organizers are on the right track, uh … lane.

“This is one of the more rewarding of all the things I do,” she said. “I guess I like bowling so much because, regardless of physical limitations, ages, sex or whatever, it’s something everyone can do.”

Keene State snags Levecque

Bangor Daily News All-Maine second team member Jason Levecque of Westbrook has decided to attend Division II Keene State College this coming fall.

The 6-foot-2 guard averaged 21 points and four steals per game while leading the Blue Blazes to their second straight appearance in the Western Maine Class A championship game.