Wadsworth High School boys varsity bowling broke its total pin record for the second time this season at Northwood Lanes against Nordonia on Jan. 21.
Before this year the record was set at 2,204, during this year the WHS boys varsity bowling first broke its total pin record Jan. 5 against Hudson, finishing with a total pin count of 2,867. On Jan. 21, the team set a new record of 2,883.
“The two-game record before we ended up claiming it, was 2,204. This was set by probably the greatest team to walk into Wadsworth,” said Hayden Eagon-Mohlmaster, a member of the boys’ varsity bowling team. “That year, they had really strong bowlers and ended up with a state champion. The high series record was also in the same match, which was 2,842. They shot this set against Copley on Jan. 9, 2018. This record stood for eight years before another team could take the top spot.”
Eagon-Mohlmaster is known to the team as their anchor, as he bowls last as the strongest player.
“At the beginning of the match, I’m pretty sure we all walked in with a little bit of high expectations,” said Eagon-Mohlmaster. “To be honest, I think we always do, but especially because it is Nordonia.”
Nordonia, Hayden explained, is one of the better teams they play against; however, the team lost many of its stronger bowlers last season.
“I don’t think any of us really thought we were going to break the record again,” said Eagon-Mohlmaster. “We just wanted to bowl as well as we could so we could get ready for our match against Ashland. Ashland is the reigning Division I state champion and also a two-time national champion.”
During their game, they played as normal, team member Ian Daveduk explained.
“We started well, a little struggle, but not too much, and we closed the first game pretty well and the second game even better,” Daveduk said.
In two games, the team bowled 2,289 pins and finished the match with a total of 2,893 pins.
“As soon as we shot the two games, we knew that it placed us at 2,289, which would’ve beaten the old record of 2,204,” said Eagon-Mohlmaster.
After breaking the record for the second time this season, the team felt happy.
“When we broke it, we were all happy and kind of overwhelmed, because we just broke two records that have stood for almost a decade, so we all feel good for the postseason,” Daveduk said.
Moving forward in the season, Eagon-Mohlmaster explained that this year will be different from past years due to the team’s high scores.
“I think that this means that this year is going to be different,” said Eagon-Mohlmaster. “I know the last two years we all thought it was going to be our year, but we weren’t consistently putting up higher scores. This year, we have made every single semifinal at every tournament we have gone to against many top teams around the state. I’m not saying tournaments matter most for winning, but they get us out there to compete and gain experience as a team. I think we could possibly be sectional champions once again, like last year.”
