Great Balls Of Fire: Area bowlers shine at Vt. meet

Twelve schools were represented in Saturday’s individual championship in Springfield, and there will be 12 in the state team championship in Barre next Saturday.
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Great Balls Of Fire: Area Bowlers Shine at Vt. Meet Hartford's Wyatt Connor. (Valley News - Tris Wykes) Hartford's Wyatt Connor. (Valley News - Tris Wykes) By Bill Porter Valley News Sports Editor Sunday, March 1, 2015 (Published in print: Sunday, March 1, 2015) Email Print Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on gmail More Sharing Services 1 Springfield, Vt. — It was a pretty good day for Wyatt Connor in the Vermont high school individual bowling tournament Saturday. The Hartford junior fought his way from the field of 32 into the round of four, nabbing some sweet satisfaction along the way. He rolled seven strikes in the elite eight, beating the bowler who had eliminated his brother Owen last year. Connor found his groove in that round and beat another bowler in the step ladder finals before falling and placing third in the state exhibition championship. He went home with a plaque and a measure of gratitude. “I was lucky just to get into the round of 16,” Connor said. “I was really on the edge there.” He defeated Springfield’s Brenden Willey, 158-137, to advance to the round of eight, where he faced South Burlington’s Dylan Cota, who had beaten Connor’s brother in last year’s round of 16. Connor began with a strike, added four straight strikes in frames 3-6, nailed two more in the eighth and 10th and won 203-144. “That was a little payback there,” he said, smiling. “It’s a friendly rivalry.” Windsor’s Katey Comstock, who apparently hasn’t met a sport that she hasn’t been able to play, rolled her way into the round of eight where she fought to overcome a slow start as the round’s top seed but came up short against Mike Prim of Essex, 197-185. “I started out with a gutter ball,” said Comstock, who advanced to the round of eight last year, too. “I came back a little bit.” Comstock plays three sports in winter, including basketball and track, and recently won her second straight state championship in the shot put. Many area bowlers made the sweet 16, including Hartford’s Mason Holroyd, South Royalton’s Jesse Kumar and Robert Ingham, Windsor’s Tristan McMullen and Ashlee Bly, and Randolph’s Branden Young. In the stepladder finals, fourth-seeded Connor beat No. 3 Ryan Ploof, of Essex, 154-142, then lost to Prim, the second seed, 172-159. Spaulding’s Kevin Bell, seeded No. 1 in the finals, topped Prim, 215-190, to win the championship. Hartford’s Hunter Brooks, a junior, missed the cut by one place in the three-game opening round of 32, coming in 17th. Brooks’ brother, Nicholas, placed 17th the last two years. Hunter was 12th after the first two games of the round, then tailed off in the third. But he’ll have another chance next year. “I’ll try to break the family tradition/curse,” he said. Hartford coach Mark Hamilton, a drivers’ education teacher at the school who has been a force behind high school bowling in the state, said he expects bowling to become a varsity sport next year. “I think the majority of schools are on board with it,” he said. Twelve schools were represented in Saturday’s individual championship, and there will be 12 in the state team championship in Barre next Saturday. Connor is going on a trip with family members to Salt Lake City; Owen Connor is planning to attend the University of Utah at the start of the next school year. Wyatt said he will make sure he’s home in time for the team championship Saturday. He’ll leave at about 2 a.m. that day. “I’ll probably be sleeping on the bench in between shots,” he said. Bill Porter can be reached at bporter@vnews.com or 603-727-3225.