Tribe bowlers earn state berth

BEAVERCREEK, Ohio — The Tribe didn’t finish quite as high as they would have liked in the Midwest Athletic Conference, but the Indians still had their postseason goals in front of them.

Those goals have now been realized.

The Fort Recovery High School boys bowling team clinched its first trip to the state tournament after knocking down a total of 4,164 pins to place fourth at the OHSAA Division II Southwest District meet at Beaver-Vu Bowl on Tuesday morning.

The Indians claimed the final spot at the state, as the top four teams and top four individuals not already on advancing teams move on to compete at H.P. Lanes in Columbus at 10:45 a.m. on March 1. Northwestern won the Southwest District with 4,499 total pins. Clinton-Massie was the runner-up with 4,327 and Benjamin Logan had 4,228 to move on as well. Shawnee was the first team left behind as their 4,089 came up 75 pins short.

Riley Grieshop had a career day, rolling games of 223, 226 and 253 for a 702 series. The senior finished, trailing Cointon-Massie’s Mason Keck by only six pins, while Cooper Crouch of Riverside ran away with the crown at 760.

The next-best Indian came in 31st as Gabe Acheson rolled a 217 to start the day en route to a 618 series.

Freshman Leland Wilson took advantage of his opportunity in the lineup, opening with a 222-pin game, followed up by games of 189 and 180 to capture the 37th-best series.

Garrett Diller placed 118th with a 402 series. (He didn’t bowl in the first game, but rolled a 234 in the second.)

Bowling one game each, Eli Lennartz, A.J. Siefring and Reece LeFevre finished 136th, 137th and 138th with scores of 178, 177 and 173, respectively.

Fort Recovery got just enough from the six Baker games, racking up the fourth-most pins at 1,187. It shot above 200 three times, including a pair of 235s in the third and fifth games.