The Northmor girls’ bowling team advanced to the Division II state meet on Thursday by virtue of finishing second in the 12-team Central District meet.

The top two teams, as well as top two individuals on a non-qualifying team, earned a trip to the state meet. Northmor finished with 3315 pins to only finish behind first-place Worthington Christian (3429). They were 77 pins better than third-place Heath.

Northmor was led by Maddie Hoverland, who rolled a three-game series of 577, which was good for first place overall in the meet, which saw 75 girls roll at least one game. Kourtney Rinehart finished with 494 pins, while Emilie Drumm added 492. Kristen Bittner tallied 414 pins and the trio of Tory Carver, Christin Eichler and Kahlan Ball shared action to finish with 352.

The team also had a six-game Baker total of 986 pins. Head coach Russ Montgomery noted that Eichler’s performance in those Baker games had a big impact on his team’s placement.

The Golden Knights will compete in the Division II state meet at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl on Saturday, Feb. 29, with action starting at 10:30 a.m.

The Cardington girls also competed in the meet, placing fifth with 3016 pins. In Baker games, the Lady Pirates had 888 pins.

Individually, Morgan Lehner tallied 480 pins, while Payton Goodman finished with 456. Peyton Counts had 435, Laney Sherbourne finished with 404 and two other girls bowled either one or two games.

Two Highland girls also competed in the meet. Paige Hicks had a three-game total of 440 pins, while Camberly Schade finished with 344.

In the boys’ meet, Cardington just missed out on a trip to the state meet, finishing in third place with 3470 pins. Heath won the meet, while River Valley took the final qualifying spot with 3518 pins.

The Pirates tallied 1021 pins in the Baker games. They were led individually by Tyler Kintz, who rolled 588 over his three games. Eric Hamilton’s total was 494 pins, while Michael Rose had 483, Silas Horton recorded 459 and Mike Blake tallied 425.

Both Highland and Mount Gilead had bowlers compete as individuals.

The Scots were led by Tyler Disbennett’s three-game total of 423 pins, while Tucker Tague finished with 350. For Mount Gilead, Trace Hatfield had a total of 386.

By Rob Hamilton

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Rob Hamilton can be reached at 419-946-3010, ext. 1807. Connect with him on Twitter at @SportsMCS