First Coast USBC Association
Florida High School Athletic Association State Bowling Tournament
The following article was furnished by Leonard Ruble, our newspaper correspondent.
This year the Gateway Conference Girls Bowling Teams participated in the fall season of bowling instead of the winter season. After starting their season the week before school started, their season concluded in late October with the District Championship Tournament.
Then early in November and for the first time in history the Gateway Conference sent the top two teams of the District Tournament to the Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA) State Bowling Tournament in Orlando. The Fletcher "Senators" and the Mandarin "Mustangs" finished one-two in the District Tournament and won the right to represent the Gateway Conference in the State Bowling Tournament.
Each team was allowed to take eight (8) bowlers to go to the FHSAA State finals to bowl in the double elimination tournament, best 3 out of 5 games, in the Baker system format.
Team members for Mandarin Mustangs better known as the "Bowling Babes" includes Stephenie St. Angelo, (Senior & Team Captain), Taylor Chenoweth (Freshman), Kaitlyn Degel (Junior), Jordan Garay (Junior), Adrienne Gotwalt (Senior), Haley Quintero (Freshman), Lindsey Sullivan (Freshman) and Jeniffer White (Senior).
The team members for Fletcher "Senators" was April Bonaventure (Senior & Team Captain), Madison Corwin (Junior), Brianna Harmon (Freshman), Jodi Lauderdale (Senior), Brandi Oleksinski (Senior), Lacey Read (Senior), Sara Solomon (Sophomore) and Anna Walker (Senior).
On the first day of the tournament "Fletcher" defeated "Lake Mary" (3-2) while "Mandarin" lost to "Ocala Forest" (3-0) and dropped to the losers bracket. Later that day the rolls were reversed when "Mandarin" defeated "Jupiter" (3-0) and "Fletcher" lost to "Eustis" (3-1) and now both teams were in the loser’s bracket.
On the second day of the tournament "Fletcher" defeated "Seabreeze" (3-1) and "Mandarin" defeated "Santaluces" (3-2). With both teams back to their winning ways "Fletcher" defeated "Ocala Forest" (3-0) and "Mandarin" defeated "West Centennial" (3-1) in Round 4. In Round 5 "Fletcher" defeated "Timber Creek" the defending Champions (3-2) while "Mandarin" defeated "Eustis" (3-0).
Round 6 brought the two Gateway Conference Teams head to head, knowing that the loser would be out of the tournament and relegated to a fourth place finish in the tournament. The "Mustangs" went on to defeat the "Senators", the Gateway Conference Champions (3-1) and then "Mandarin" went on to defeat "Nature Coast" (3-2) in Round 7 to advance to the Championship Match to face Deland. .
With the match tied at two games apiece and the frames winding down in the 5th and final game, a three strike run by "Mandarin" forced "Deland" to strike in the 10th frame. If Deland lost this match, both teams would then be in the loser’s bracket and another best 3 out of 5 game match would be necessary. "Deland" avoided that by rolling two strikes in the final frame to win the FHSAA State Championship over the "Mandarin Mustangs" by 13 pins (197-182).
Duval County Athletic Director John Fox said, "I was very surprised and very pleased with the performance of both teams at the FHSAA State Tournament, being this was their first year of competition at the State level". He went on to say, "I really didn’t expect them to do this well in the first year of competition but they far exceeded my expectations. We have seen a huge improvement over the past 10 years in their scores and performance".
Gateway Conference Commissioner Libby Peterson said she was thrilled with the performance of both teams, given the fact that this was the first time either team had participated in the FHSAA State Girls Bowling Championship Tournament.
For the individual competition of the State Tournament each of the 16 schools in the Gateway Conference was permitted to send three bowlers. The gateway Conference had two bowlers to crack the top 20 in the Singles Event. Kayla Fosbenner from Samuel Wolfson High School finished in 7th place while Stephenie St. Angelo from Mandarin High School finished in 12th place.
In the Singles Event of the FHSAA State Bowling Tournament 199 Girls qualified in the double elimination tournament. Kayla Fosbenner from Wolfson High School placed 7th, Stephenie St. Angelo from Mandarin High School placed 12th, Brandi Oleksinski from Fletcher High School placed 35th, Kaitly Degel from Mandarin High School finished in 56th place and Lindsey Sullivan also from Mandarin High School finished in 57th place.
Colleen Harrison from Ed White High School finished in 60th place, Anna Walker from Fletcher High School finished in 65th place, Jodi Lauderdale from Fletcher High School finished in 89th place, Jeniffer White Mandarin High School finished in 94th place, Alyssa Coates Andres from Jackson High School finished in 97th place, Jordan Garay from Mandarin High School finished in 101st place, April Bonaventure from Fletcher High School finished in 106th place and Brianna Harmon from Fletcher High School placed 112th in the tournament.
Congratulations to all of the Girls from Mandarin and Fletcher for their performance at the FHSAA State Bowling Tournament in Orlando and also to the Girls who represented Jacksonville well in the Singles event.
Also congratulations goes to all of the schools in Gateway Conference and to each Girl that participated in the District Tournament that was held here in Jacksonville. To all of the Girls, a job well done!
