Comets record pair of bowling wins against Cougars

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

SUMNER — They have been electronically recording bowling since the Walkman’s infancy-era.

Take note of Jeff Bridges’s “Dude” in The Big Lebowski who tries to attain “Zen” consciousness while listening to the pinfall soundtrack from a celebrated tournament.

Today, bowling like most other high school sports is regularly being streamed live to accommodate fans and supporters who are not allowed to attend due to ongoing pandemic restrictions.

Charles City’s boys and girls dual meet against Sumner-Fredericksburg held Friday night at Thunder Lanes was a double-live recording which saw the Comets win convincingly (3,048-2,470 boys; 2,548-1,871 girls) while improving both squads’ records to 2-0 ahead of this Friday’s (Dec. 11) home meet against North Fayette Valley at Comet Bowl.

But Charles City doesn’t just record sound and visuals.

“We’ve been doing this for the past three years,” said Comet head coach Doug Bohlen of marking down bowlers’ leaves and their frequency of getting them and picking them up. “You can get an idea what their first ball is doing and what spares give them the most trouble.”

Bohlen’s grandson Cael Bohlen had little trouble contributing his share of thunder to Thunder Lanes as he followed up a 258 game with a 268 for a two-game series of 526, which is currently listed as the highest prep series in the state according to QuickStats.

Bohlen didn’t have an open all night until he got double-tapped for a 7-10 split in the final frame of the final game of the Baker Rotation.

Koyer Kellogg had a 402 series, Long Luft had a 378 which included a 243 first game, Kaleb Cotton recorded a 374 series and Nathan Girkin had a 372 to round out the individual scoring for the Comets — Dillan Ross bounced back with a 200 in the second game, but his 357 series wasn’t used.

In the Baker Rotation, the Comets were held short of averaging 200 (199.2) due in part to a 159 compiled in the third game.

The Comet girls were led by seniors Brianna Ross (363) and Sarah Mitchell (343), with Claire Girkin (321), Imigin McHenry (314) and Heather Viers (293) rounding out the scoring.

With a Baker Rotation round total of 914, the Comet girls averaged more than 20 pins higher bowling as a team (183) than as individuals.