Four local bowlers earned bids to the state meet at this week's Division 3 regional tournament, which took place at Northway Lanes Wednesday and Thursday.
The individual finals will take place at the JAX 60 lanes in Jackson Saturday, March 1.
Three boys players - Ethan Hite and Logan Hunter of Montague and Mason Slaughter of Whitehall - placed in the top seven individually to earn trips to the finals, as did Felicity Dingman of Whitehall in the girls' meet.
Hite was the highest placer among them, taking third in the boys' tournament. The individual regional meet consisted of six full games, and Hite made the most of them, scoring a total pinfall of 1,217. Hite's key game was his fourth, in which he bowled a 268 - the highest score anyone bowled all day.
Slaughter finished sixth with a pinfall of 1,143, highlighted by a 220 score in his final game, and Hunter was seventh with a score of 1,094. His highest game was a 222, scored in his second game.
Montague's Matthew Leatherman (14th place, 1,057) and Whitehall's Max Schneider (16th place, 1,038) also placed in the top 20 at regionals.
In the girls' meet, Dingman placed seventh to grab the last individual qualifying spot, scoring a total pinfall of 936. Dingman came up big in her last game, rolling her highest score of the day, a 173, to lock in her state bid.
Montague's Alanna Hysell rounded out the individual top 20, with a six-game score of 832.
In Wednesday's team competition, the Montague boys team narrowly missed qualifying for state, placing fourth (the top two teams qualify). In eight Baker games and two full games, the Wildcats' total pinfall was 3,006 - 65 pins away from qualification. Whitehall finished 10th with a score of 2,673. In the girls' meet, Whitehall finished 10th (2,207) and Montague was 11th (2,181).
