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Zimmerman Adaptive Bowling Takes State Championship

Courtesy of Minnesota State High School League

Adapted Bowling participants gathered for the state tournament on Friday, May 12 at Bowlero in Brooklyn Park. Singles, doubles and team championships were awarded in three divisions: ASD, CI and PI.

Here is a look at what happened at this season’s state tournament:

ASD Division

  • Two competitors from Alexandria Area earned championship and runner-up honors in girls singles. Sophomore Shayla Nelson placed first with 474 pins and junior Montana Hinnenkamp followed with 464 pins. Anoka-Hennepin freshman Isabelle Sturgeon was third with 453.
  • St. Michael-Albertville sophomore Waseem Ezzaid captured the boys individual singles crown with a score of 490 pins. Houston senior Alex McCullough was runner-up with 471 and Anoka-Hennepin senior Dylan Ongaga was third at 451.
  • The Fergus Falls duo of junior Zade Carlson and senior Nathan Graham rolled their way to a state championship with a combined score of 890. The Mankato West team eighth-grader Emma Christenson and senior Ilhan Gabri were the runner-ups with a score of 878. Anoka-Hennepin was third with 872 behind sophomore Cayden Gilbert and senior Dylan Ongaga.
  • Zimmerman cruised to the team championship with a combined 1,638 pins. Team members included seventh-grader Jacob Arola, sophomores Chris Maller and Cayleb Merten and junior Kamren Hamilton. Tartan was the team runner-up with 1,610 and Goodhue County was third at 1,591.

Team title

 

CI Division

  • St. Michael-Albertville freshman Jasmine Brutskiy rolled to the girls singles championship with a two-game score of 492. Hopkins freshman Grace French-Miller and Lake Crystal-Wellcome Memorial freshman Molly Landsteiner tied for runner-up honors with 448 pins apiece.
  • Nate Fischer, a junior at Zimmerman, topped the field in the boys singles competition with a two-game score of 464. That was 17 pins better than St. Michael-Albertville sophomore Seth Wright, who was runner-up with 447. Another St. Michael-Albertville sophomore, Amari Salkey, placed third with 442 pins.
  • Hopkins’ Clayton Carlson, a senior, and junior Nolan Hilson, cruised to the doubles championship with a two-game combined score of 906. St. Michael-Albertville’s Carter Patyk, a sophomore, and sophomore Seth Wright were second at 899. Anoka-Hennepin junior Gabriel Mueller and freshman Austin Williams placed third with a score of 884.
  • In the closest of the team races, Lake City recorded a narrow four-pin victory over Tartan. The Tigers compiled a winning score of 1,663 pins to the 1,659 for the Titans. Scoring for Lake City were eighth-grader Michael Koontz, freshmen Brooklyn Barton and Andrew Hawn and sophomore Sydnee Stolzenberg. A second Tartan team placed third with 1,640.

PI Division

  • Monticello junior Bella Angell emerged as the state champion in the singles competition with a two-game score of 469. St. Paul Humboldt ninth-grader Mckenzie Green was second with a score of 464. Austin senior Lupita Carrion and Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton/Waseca Destiny Woitas tied for third-place honors.
  • New London-Spicer junior McGwire Hatlestad captured the boys singles title with 516 pins. Simley junior Andrew De Armond and St. Peter/LeSueur-Henderson junior Cooper Johnston placed second and third, respectively. De Armond had a score of 505 and Johnston finished at 455.
  • North High School-North St. Paul grabbed the top two spots in the doubles division. Sophomore Tashayanna Collins teamed with junior Victoria Kulstad to roll a combined score of 987 to win the title. Junior teammates Lucas Eide and Nardin Izaola teamed for a runner-up total of 963. Moorhead juniors Addie Loerzel and Alex Cannizzaro placed third with a 929.
  • North High School-North St. Paul will have extra luggage for its drive home after racing to the team championship with a total of 1,844 pins. Scoring for the Polars were sophomore Tashayanna Collins and juniors Lucas Eide, Nardin Izaola and Victoria Kulstad. Wayzata/Minnetonka was the runner-up with 1,639 and Minneapolis South placed third with 1,608.

Coach Chris Withers wrote:  I am proud of our athletes for being coachable, when given pointers/tips, they are willing to try them. I am proud of our parents for caring for one another and cheering for everyone on the team.  The Monticello coach told me after the section matches and the Tartan coach told me yesterday how impressed they were with our parental support.  I am proud of our coaches and their dedication to our athletes' success and well-being.  I am proud of our student manager (what an awesome young man) for how he is present and shows support for everyone on the team.  I am proud of the athletic department at Zimmerman and the case managers at all of the schools for being awesome and fun to work with.  If I ever needed anything, they knew the answers or were able to find a way to get the job done.  I know that it is easy to say all of this because of the success we had yesterday, but in all honesty, I have felt this way for a long time. Thank you all for a great season and I cannot wait to do it again next year.