COLUMBUS — McKinley High School’s Dylan Shanklin didn’t think he had bowled that well.
Especially not enough to gain All-Ohio status during Friday’s OHSAA Division I Boys State Bowling Championships at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl.
“I was trying my best,” the senior two-handed right-hander said. “I really didn’t feel like I did that good. I think I could have done better.”
Shanklin opened with a 230 and followed with games of 202 and 209 for a 641 series to finish 11th overall and earn honorable-mention All-Ohio honors.
“Just making it to state was all I cared about,” said Shanklin after leading the Bulldogs to an eighth-place finish overall in their first state tourney appearance. “I kind of did worse as the games went on … kind of downhill.
“It seemed like I was throwing it a little different each time, and I was getting it a little too far outside.”
Shanklin, a second-team All-Federal Division selection who carried a 202 average during the regular season, saw a transition in the lanes as the day went on.
“The transitions were about the same for the first three games, but when we went to Bakers during the qualifying it was definitely really dry,” Shanklin said. “During the match play, I was standing in the gutter gap and getting the ball all the way outside and still hitting heavy.”
SPARE SHOOTING DOOMS PERRY
Perry coach Alex Lincoln saw the tale of two Panther teams during Friday’s qualifying round.
“We started off the first game carrying better than we have the last three trips down here,” said Lincoln. “Then, we stopped carrying, and we shot spares worse than we have the last three years.”
The Panthers, making their fourth straight state appearance without making the cut to match play, finished 10th overall following qualifying (three regular games, three Baker System games) with 3,294 total pinfall, 59 pins behind McKinley in the race for the eighth and final match-play spot.
The Panthers shot 950 in Game 1 and stood eighth in the field. Following an 886 in Game 2, they dropped to ninth and were never able to recover.
“During the second game, we will were kind of lined top and thought we could bounce back a little bit,” said Lincoln, whose Panthers’ high finish was ninth last season. “But if we didn’t carry, more than likely we missed a spare. We just didn’t cover what we were supposed to.
When you give away about 150 pins a game missing spares it’s hard to make the cut.”
The Panthers did shoot the second-high Baker set of 577, but they were 106 pins out of the cut and could not rebound.
“We had some strings of strikes, but when the strings stopped, and they left something, they were missing them,” Lincoln said. “Being their fourth year down here, they all wanted to win and make the cut.
“I think they just put too much pressure on themselves. It’s difficult to throw a bowling ball the you are super tense. If you can relax and roll it, that’s the best way to hit your target.”
Junior Kaleb Corrin led the Panthers with a 559 series. He was the only Panther to complete three full games during qualifying.
“Kaleb threw his whole bag at it. He could get to the pocket, but he couldn’t carry,” Lincoln said. “He missed a couple of easy spares early, but then he got locked in spares wise and just beat the pocket to death.”
But Lincoln, despite losing four seniors, including three starters, feels another state run is in the cards next season.
“We are pretty deep as a team, and I’m not worried about getting back down here,” Lincoln said. “But we have to figure out how we can practice being down here. I’m going to start reading som more books, watching some videos to see what we can to got get over the hump and take that next step.”
NOTEBOOK
TWO-HANDERS RULE. Of the 16 individuals bowling in the Division I boys event, 12 were two-handers, including one who threw a backup-ball style. Two of the others were lefties. The individual champion, Powell Olentangy Liberty senior Carter Street (a two-handed righty), qualified as an individual and led the field with a 732 series, including shooting 289 in Game 1.
ATTENDANCE. The Division I boys tournament had 613 tickets sold, nearly 100 less than Division II last weekend. The girls numbers for Saturday are at 631 as of the start of the boys event Friday.
OTHERS FROM NORTHEAST. Boardman senior Reese Beckman finished fifth overall with a 691 series to make first-team All-Ohio, while teammate and junior Daniel Enright finished ninth with a 655 to make second team. Nordonia senior Kyle Brazil shot 676 and finished sixth, and Tallmadge’s Gavin Warren had 636 to finish 13th. The top 15 individual finishers qualified for All-Ohio, with the top five being named to first team. Ashland junior Parker Grissinger also finished 12th with 637.
TEAM CHAMPS. Centerville captured its third state title by stopping Marion Harding 3-1 in the championship match. Centerville won the final game 260-245. Boardman took the Elks to five games during the semifinal round before falling in Game 5 240-175. Boardman finished fourth overall. Parma Padua shot a tourney-high 648 during its three Baker games to vault from ninth to fifth and make the cut. But the Bruins fell to Marion Harding in their opening match 3-0.
GIRLS UPCOMING. The Division I girls tournament is at 10:45 a.m. Saturday with Perry and Green in the team field and three area individuals — McKinley’s Brooke Tucker, GlenOak’s Rachel Young and Wooster’s Abbie Leiendecker — seeking honors.