Three St. Paul bowlers struck bronze recently, after heading to provincials to take part in the Youth Bowling Canada’s team combo tournament.
Larissa Barlad, 18, Hope Petrie, 11, and Mercedes Tomlinson, 10, advanced through house rounds to make up the team, composed of a senior, junior and bantam respectively. They then headed into a zone round, which took place in St. Paul, before progressing to the provincial round in St. Albert on Nov. 13, where they competed against seven other teams.
For Larissa and Hope, it wasn’t their first time at provincial competitions, so they knew the drill and kept an eye out for their younger counterpart.
“The other two have experience so they kept her from being too nervous,” said Parellel Lanes co-owner Andre Langevin. His wife, Laura, was the girls’ coach, and said she watched as the girls stayed in close contention for medals.
“After the third game, they were tied for third,” she said. The fourth and final game saw the three girls pull ahead to capture third place.
But the top four teams’ scores were all close, with the St. Paul team only 18 points shy of first place. Of course, that’s something Coach Laura was careful to keep under her hat as the girls played, so as not to put extra pressure on them.
Hope said she was pleased at the final result, saying, “It’s really good, because there are a lot of people there and you get nervous. And when you find out it’s that close, it’s kind of shocking.”
“I was pretty proud of them,” said Laura, adding that Larissa actualy scored 216 over the four games, putting her in the top three of competitors.
Team combo rounds only go up to provincials, so the team has achieved as much as it can this season, but the Langevins expect a few single players may make it to nationals, with the possibility of bringing home more medals.
