Central York bowling finishes fifth at state tournament in title defense

A magical ending eluded defending state bowling champion Central York this past weekend, as the Panthers finished fifth at the Pennsylvania State High School Championships in Erie on Saturday. 

The Panthers fell just six pins shy of making the stepladder finals. They tallied 2,728 pins across three games of league format and 1,069 pins in six games of Baker competition for a total of 3,797.

"Head coach Julie Carson and I are very pleased with how the team bowled," assistant coach Charlie Earnst said. "We were in the hunt (for one of the top four positions) all day. We had an incredibly successful year. This team definitely exceeded expectations."

The top four teams were Butler (3,917), Daniel Boone (3,857), Manheim Township (3,821) and Truman (3,803). Manheim Township battled through the stepladder finals and won the state title.

Earnst said the Panthers were hurt by their failure to convert several single-pin spares.

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Central York featured two returning starters, juniors Kamryn Brenneman and Bryce Kline, from last year's state champion squad. The Panthers' other starters — Clay Thomas, Noah Shultz and Adam Glatfelter — are also juniors.  Thomas and Shultz had not bowled competitively before this season.

"The future looks bright," Earnst said. "I'm sure our bowlers will use this experience as a building block for next season."

The Panthers, who finished 10-2 in York-Adams League action to share first place with Spring Grove, surprised a lot of people when they won the Eastern Regionals on March 4 to advance to the state tournament.

In Friday's state singles competition, Brenneman placed eighth on the girls' side with a six-game total of 1,152 pins, just 30 shy of reaching the top-five stepladder. York Tech's Mason Smith finished 22nd of 24 boys' individual qualifiers with of 1,036 pins. Antietam's Ayden Davis won the boys' title over Middletown's Cameron Wegert; another District 3 standout, Central Dauphin East's Rayana Gonzalez, won the girls' crown.

Brenneman and Kline were named to the all-tournament team for their performances Saturday. Kline rolled a 254, second-highest in the team tournament, and tallied 642 in three league-format games. Brenneman tallied a 578 in those contests. Glatfelter and Shultz added 558 and 556 pins, respectively.