3 Podium Finishes for Hopewell Varsity Bowling – Girls Clinch Wild Card!

After a slow start to the season the Hopewell Girls Varsity Bowlers have come back with a vengeance! Today the girls Bowling team qualified for the playoffs!

In a message from Coach Stan Magusiak, he highlights todays performance and the announcement of the Girls Wild Card Playoff bid!

MAC Tournament

The Hopewell Vikings Bowling Program had a tremendous day at Sims Lanes on Saturday making an appearance at the annual MAC tournament.  This year Hopewell submitted teams into three divisions and walked away with three podium finishes.

The Viking Boys came in ranked 5/11 in the Men’s Gold Field but walked away with an incredible second place finish, losing only to the top ranked New Castle Hurricanes bowling at their home house for the tournament. The Vikings improved upon their 2024 8^th place finish with an incredible run that saw them shoot almost 1000 pins over their 2024 performance. The Vikings were led by sophomore Aidan Heppner who shot a high game of 258 and high series of 629. He was joined on the second all tournament team by senior captain Daniel Earley with a 596 series. Sophomore Ayden Gault finished on the third all tournament team with a 590. Junior Brayden Mowry and freshman Max Butter who finished 18^th and 26^thoverall respectively to round out a huge effort that saw the Vikings post the second highest game of the day (and their highest game of the year) with a 1046 game 2 on their way to the first podium finish for the Vikings since 2014.

The Lady Vikings also found themselves on the podium today, finishing in 3^rd place out of 11 teams. The Lady Vikings came into the event ranked 4/11and found themselves laddering up to their first podium finish since 2014. The ladies received news that they’d be heading to the playoffs with a wildcard berth about halfway through their first game and never looked back. They qualified for the playoffs based on their team average of 590 per game for the year. Today, they averaged 655 per game, including their highest team game of the year—719—crushing their previous high score of 667 from January. The Lady Vikings led by sophomore Annabeth Sembower who finished #3 overall in the ladies gold division with a 493 series, ten pins off the #1 overall bowler. Senior Gianna Krayniewski earned third team all tournament honors with a 426 series.

The Vikings also entered the silver division and were able to place 3^rd out of 8 teams for another top 3 finish on the day. The Vikings saw freshman Nolan Houy earn silver division first team honors with a 555 series and 205 high game to finish #4 overall. Freshman Thomas Turino added a 446 series and 191 high game to earn second team honors and sophomore Will Holland added a 439 series and 203 high game to earn third team honors.  Senior Zach Hughes added a 177 to the effort for the Vikings.

Both Vikings teams will move on to the WPIBL Championship tournament this week. The men will bowl on Wednesday and the ladies will bowl on Thursday. This marks the first time since 2016 that both the men and women have qualified for the postseason. Congratulations to the entire team and all involved.  Roll Vikes!

Men’s Gold Division  

Ladies Gold Division 

Men’s Silver Division                                 

 Boys Gold All Tournament Team – First Team

 Boys Gold All Tournament Team – Second Team

 Boys Gold All Tournament Team – Third Team

 Ladies Gold All Tournament Team – First Team

Ladies Gold All Tournament Team – Second Team

 Ladies Gold All Tournament Team – Third Team

Boys Silver All Tournament Team – First Team

 Boys Silver All Tournament Team – Second Team

 Boys Silver All Tournament Team – Third Team

 Viking Boys Gold Division

Lady Vikings Gold Division

Viking Boys Silver Division