Goshen senior Hanna Schafer advanced to state as the top individual not on a qualifying team.

Goshen senior Hanna Schafer advanced to state as the top individual not on a qualifying team.
By Chris Chaney
Sun staff

Goshen’s Hanna Schafer is headed to Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl on Thursday to roll in the Division II Ohio State Bowling Tournament, a feat that her local counterparts in Division I are hoping to duplicate later this week.

Schafer and the Lady Warriors are the only Clermont County bowling team that competes in Division II; even the Goshen boys bowl in Division I.

With the Division II sectional taking place last week, Schafer led her team to a third-place finish and trip to Thursday, Feb. 26’s district tournament at Beaver-Vu Lanes in Beavercreek, outside of Dayton.

While the Lady Warriors were unable to advance past the district round as a team, Schafer had one of her best days of the season, rolling games of 180, 175 and 217, all well above her 151.6 pin per game average.

For her efforts, the senior placed sixth overall and first among individuals not on qualifying teams, punching her ticket to the state tournament.

Schafer’s 572 series was the third-best in the state among individual qualifiers and the 16th highest district series in all of Division II.

“It’s awesome,” Goshen head coach Shirley Reynolds said of the accomplishment. “I’ve been doing this for a while and the ultimate end is having a chance to go to state.”

Schafer is only the second Lady Warrior bowler that Reynolds has had qualify for the state tournament. Schafer will head up to Columbus on Thursday night for an open practice with the girls competition taking place on Friday, March 7 with bowling set to begin around 10:30 a.m.

Schafer’s Division I counterparts will try to retrace her steps to Columbus this week in the district tournament. Although no Goshen boys will be competing at the district tournament, Reynolds said she was encouraged by the young and inexperienced Warriors squad at the sectional.

Boys and girls from Amelia and Milford were able to advance individually, as were two boys from Glen Este, but it was the Lady Trojans who had the most successful sectional round; they qualified in third place as a team.

“The girls, overall, bowled very well,” Glen Este head coach Kevin Briggs said. “We had a tough shot there at Crossgate — it was a wet-dry shot where the ball reaction wasn’t something the girls were used to seeing — and they battled through. We were able to have a couple girls shoot pretty high overall scores.”

The Lady Trojans were led by sophomore Drew Coulter who rolled a 548 series. Coulter’s games of 161, 216 and 171 were good enough for 9th overall and an individual qualifying slot had her teammates not had such a solid showing as well.

Courtney Chaffin, also a sophomore, finished in 13th individually with a 541 series. She would have qualified individually as well.

Freshman Daniell Cooper rolled a 491 series (T25) and senior Emily Doppes bowled a 478 (33). Sophomore Rebecca Rainwater added a pair of strong games — 179 and 161 — to buttress the top-4.

Sprinkled in around the girls Crossgate sectional were Kristina Hodges of Amelia and Alyna Hook and Sarah Schmidtgesling of Milford, all three of whom wrapped up individual qualifying spots.

Hodges finished behind GE’s Coulter in 10th place with a 544 series. Hook rolled a 534 and Schmidtgesling was just two pins behind to finish in 15th and 17th place, respectively, grabbing the last two individual spots.

On the boys side, Milford led the way at the Crossgate sectional qualifying three on to Beaver-Vu: Josh Cooper, Josh Brooksbank and Nathan McGeorge.

“Brooksbank is a junior and Josh Cooper and McGeorge are only freshmen, so this is a great experience for them,” Frank Ritzmann, Milford’s head coach, said. “Anything after (the sectional) is just icing on the cake.”

Cooper qualified second among individuals with a 630 series, which landed him in 17th place overall. Brooksbank was 22nd overall with a 614 and McGeorge was 24th with a 610.

The only individual to finish higher than Cooper was Glen Este’s Brady Dunigan whose 647 series was 14th overall. Teammate Tanner Davis will join Dunigan at districts, earning the final individual qualifying spot with a 600 series.

Across town at Colerain Bowl, Amelia sophomore Nic Huber advanced to the district individually rolling a 615 series. His score was second among individual qualifiers and 14th overall.

The Division I boys district tournament was scheduled for Wednesday, March 4 and the girls was slated for the following day. For complete tournament information, log on to ohsaa.org.