The girls’ bowling team won its third consecutive regional MHSAA Division 2 regional championship on Feb. 27 at the Capitol Bowl in Owosso, while junior Hannah Ploof claimed the individual title.

The Hornets shared the top spot with their male counterparts, as the boys’ team also won its regional.

Mr. Paul Gaudard, athletics director, is proud of Kearsley’s great tradition in bowling.

“It’s another great accomplishment for our bowling programs.  They continue to establish themselves as two of the premier programs in the state,” Gaudard said. “I think the success of this year’s teams further contributes to the tradition that the bowling team is quickly establishing. ”

The Hornets started well in the beginning shooting a 195 game in the first baker; however, the Hornets started to decline after this.

The Hornets shot 131, 138, and 150 during the next three baker games.

The girls did not give up and shot games 176 and 184 to finish out their baker games with a total of 974.

The Hornets started off the individual games with a 873, which was the high game for the girls.

In the second and third individual games, the Hornets shot games of 831 and 812 for a total of 3,490.

The Hornets won, leaving Owosso in second place with a total of 3,202. The girls were also back-to-back-to-back regional champions.

Kearsley’s girls are bowling in the state final today at Century Lanes in Waterford. The Hornets are defending their state title they won last year, too.

The day after team competitions, the individual state tournament will commence.

In the individual regional competition, the first individual game was strong for many of the Hornets as senior Teagan MacDonald shot a 220 game, juniors Alexxa Flood and Hannah Ploof shot games of 200 and 195, respectively.

Going into the last game there were four girls in the top 10. They were seniors Kayla Emmendorfer and Dani Doolan along with Flood and Ploof.

Emmendorfer shot a 122 game to drop to 12th place while Ploof, Doolan, and Flood shot games of 208, 167, and 142, respectively, to stay in the top 10.

Ploof won the individual championship, after finishing third last year, while Doolan finished in fourth place and Flood was sixth.

All three advance to the individual state final and compete on March 7.

Gaudard said, “Both our teams have the talent and potential to bring home another state title.”

The state finals will be bowled on the Middle Road oil pattern, the same pattern the regional competition used.

Both teams have worked hard to prepare to bowl on this pattern.

“I think it really speaks to the effort that the members of both teams have put forth to get to this point,” Gaudard said. “I know lots of people see the headlines when our teams win, but few see the hard work that they are putting in behind the scenes to be successful.”