ABERDEEN — The Richmond Senior High School boys’ bowling team narrowly missed qualifying for the state championship tournament Thursday.
Competing in the Sandhills Athletic Conference championship meet, the Raiders entered the team tournament as the No. 4 seed and finished their season in the same spot.
Missing the cut by 17 pins in their final of three matches, the Raiders weren’t one of the SAC’s top three teams to make the state championship lineup.
A bright spot for Richmond, however, was junior Landon Summerlin qualifying for the individual bracket of the state championship.
He finished as the fourth best bowler in the conference and had a chance at the individual conference crown.
Pinecrest High School won the conference championship, followed by Scotland and Southern Lee high schools.
“It’s unfortunate that our season came to an end today as a team,” head coach Chris Larsen said. “There were times we had opportunities to close out frames and pick up games here and there, but we just couldn’t get the job done.
“Landon bowled a great individual tournament and it’s very impressive for him to finish as the fourth best bowler in a talented field,” he added. “He’ll get the chance to represent Richmond one more time and we’ll be rooting him on.”
No. 4 Raiders drop two of three matches
The No. 4 Raiders faced No. 5 Union Pines, No. 1 Scotland and No. 3 Southern Lee in their three matches. Larsen used a variety of lineups during the tournament that featured six bowlers.
Bowling best-of-three game matches, Richmond opened the day with a 2-1 victory over the No. 5 Vikings. The Raiders won games one and three by scores of 191-155 and 124-104, respectively.
Totaling 18 strikes and closing out 26-of-34 frames (76.5%), the Raiders were led by senior James Eason in the anchor spot. He had a .900 closing percentage (9-for-10) with seven strikes and two spares.
Junior Landon Taylor (three strikes, two spares) and sophomore Hayden Wheeler (two strikes, three spares) both closed 83% of his respective frames. Summerlin added three strikes and a helper and junior Jabari Douglas rolled three strikes in his six chances.
The Raiders were swept 2-0 by the No. 1 Fighting Scots in the semifinal match behind scores of 147-182 and 161-164.
Douglas and Wheeler both went 3-for-4 with a strike and two spares (75%). Summerlin had two strikes, Taylor bowled two spares and Eason went 5-for-7 with four strikes and a spare.
Falling to the third-place match, the Raiders faced the No. 3 Cavaliers. Richmond took the first game 196-191, but dropped the next two by scores of 189-205 and 177-194 to finish the season fourth overall.
Summerlin and Taylor paced the team’s comeback effort by closing five of their six respective frames (83%). Summerlin had four strikes and a spare and Taylor bowled two perfect frames with three helpers.
At anchor, Eason had two strikes and three spares. Wheeler went 50% with a strike and a spare and sophomore Azariah Daniel bowled two strikes. On the day, the Raiders closed 61-of-90 frames (67.8%).
Summerlin heading to individual state championship
After the team tournament, all six aforementioned bowlers along with senior Tobey Lunceford took their shot at qualifying in the individual tournament.
Each bowler rolled three games and his combined score was used to determine the top 10 qualifiers, who were also named to the All-SAC team.
In his three games, Summerlin tallied a final score of 628. Placing him fourth overall, his game scores were 184, 257 and 187.
He made it to the roll-off, a chance to win the individual tournament outright against the other top seeds, but fell to Southern Lee’s Markel Brown 140-205.
“It feels so great to see the hard work I’ve been putting in week by week pay off in the end,” Summerlin said.
“What really helped me be successful today was being consistent with hitting my arrow and getting into the pocket as fast and hard as possible.”
Richmond’s other scorers were — Eason (554), Taylor (479), Lunceford (459), Wheeler (447), Douglas (419) and Daniel (375).
Summerlin will compete in the state championship next Friday at the Sandhills Bowling Center. The team event will start at 10 a.m., followed by the individual tournament.
