COLUMBUS — Two area seniors — Wooster’s Dawson Gaynor and Perry’s Kaleb Corrin — had different goals as they came to the OHSAA Division I Boys State Bowling Tournament as individual qualifiers.
Gaynor was hoping to enjoy his first state appearance; Corrin made no qualms about his goal at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl.
“I wasn’t really happy with my performance,” said Corrin, who was making his fourth straight state appearance but first as an individual. “I didn’t get to finish where I wanted to. The goal was the top five.”
Corrin, who saw little action as a freshman, finished 11th overall as a sophomore to earn All-Ohio honorable-mention honors with 654. Last season, he finished 49th overall with 559.
Saturday, he shot 245 in Game 3 to finish with 619, 25th overall.
“I just couldn’t carry at all. I changed balls the first game and it got a little bit better,” said Corrin, who also had games of 172 and 202. “I don’t think I was as much nervous as just eager to get started.”
Perry coach Alex Lincoln said Corrin missed the head pin only three times, two on splits, and missed one 2-4-5-8 spare.
“I don’t know if he could have played it much differently,” Lincoln said. “We tried to play where the lane was telling us, and I thought we had a pretty good game plan with A, B and C.
“But by the end of practice, C wasn’t working so he had to play different lines and had a lot of nine counts. But when he hits the pocket 33 out of 36 times it’s hard to complain. It could have gone the other way. He made it here four times in a row. He’s going to be taking my money in adult leagues pretty soon.”
Gaynor admitted the shot was “tough for me, but I got better every game.”
“I was just trying to work on things,” said Gaynor, who finished 594 series to rank 41st overall in his first state appearance. “I wanted my first time to be a good time.
“I was really nervous at the start. Sometimes I pushed the ball too far away or my stride was off. It was just a lot of things I was trying to work through.”
Wooster coach Suzanne Donley said the atmosphere was something Gaynor isn’t used to.
“He’s a high school bowler … he really doesn’t do much tournament bowling with the JTBAs or anything,” Donley said. “He was calm for the most part, but we had a couple of his teammates with us and I pulled one forward. That seemed to settle him down and then we got into it.”
After starting with 176, Gaynor, who has an unorthodox one-handed delivery, followed with 201 and 217 for 494 to finish 41st overall.
“The right lanes went pretty well for me, but the left, I was just a little off. I felt discombobulated a bit,” Gaynor said.
Donley said there was quite a difference between the two pairs, with Lanes 37-38 being tighter than 41-42.
“I couldn’t be more proud of him. He came on my leaps and bounds this season,” Donley said.
OTHER INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCES
Northeast District champion and Highland senior Kyle Dunne earned All-Ohio honors, finishing ninth overall with a 662 series.
Other Northeast All-Ohioans included Canfield sophomore Matt Logan, who finished third with 704 after posting a tourney-high 278 in Game 3; Ashland freshman Landon Dreibelbis, fourth after a 695; Boardman sophomore Austin Rule, who finished 12th with 657; and Nordonia senior Bryce Lewis, who 14th after a 655 and a pair of 223 games.
Beavercreek junior Carson Shroyer was the individual state champion with 707 on games of 233, 245 and 229. He finished just two pins ahead of Plain City Jonathan Alder’s Drew Damron, who had 204 his first game, and three ahead of Logan.
NOTEBOOK: A total of 700 tickets were sold for Saturday’s session, with 16 teams and individuals in the field. … The field average of the three regular games was 958.1 and for Baker games it was a high of 192 in Game 2. … The field was not as tightly backed as Friday’s girls Division I event as 10th-place Amherst Steele finished 116 pins out of the cut. … There were three 700 series shot by individuals and 35 players had at least 600. … Team high game was by Westerville Central with 1,079 in Game 1. The Warhawks did not make the cut. … Hilliard Davidson shot 712 in Bakers to take over the top-seeded position by just eight pins over Mason, which shot 666. Four teams shot 617 or above in Bakers. … Coaches participated in a survey to determine the future format of the state tourney. The question was whether to keep the format the same or go to a one-team, one-individual format per pair — similar to the one employed in the Northeast District for sectional and district events. … This could be the final appearance of the event at Columbus Bowl. Talks are ongoing as to the future sites for the Division I and II events, although Webb told snieronbowling.com during the summer that he didn’t wish to continue as tournament host.