Staff
It was a golden moment for Sunset Country #2 on Saturday at the annual P.O.A. (pins over average) provincial roll-offs held in Sudbury this year.
Robert Keeper of Balmertown, Rosanna Parsons (Balmertown), Murray McDougald (Kenora), and Jessica Scott (Kenora) teamed up to capture first place with 46 points and advance to the national roll-offs later this spring in Calgary.
It marks the third-straight year a Sunset Country team will represent Northern Ontario at the nationals.
Coached by Terry Delaronde, the quartet wound up at +998 overall during the 10-game event spread over two days–led by Scott, who finished +403 above her 178 entry average.
Keeper was next (+203 above his 202 average), followed by Parsons (+197 above her 130 average) and McDougald (+195 above his 130 average).
Sunset Country #1, meanwhile, finished in a tie for third place with Nickel District #1 both in terms of points (42) and P.O.A. (+592).
In the end, Nickel District was awarded the bronze medal based on winning the third tie-breaker (head-to-head meeting).
Charlotte Hazlewood of Dryden led the Sunset quartet by finishing +370 above her 181 entry average.
Kyle Hamilton of Balmertown was next (+194 above his 176 average), followed by Sherry McCoy of Balmertown (+46 above her 137 average).
Michael Gervais of Fort Frances rounded out the squad at minus-18 below his 153 average.
Thunder Bay #1, which finished just half-a-point behind Sunset Country #2 in the 12-team standings (two teams per zone), took the silver medal and claimed the other Northern Ontario berth at the nationals.
In the High-Lo Doubles portion of the tournament, Fort Frances residents Celeste Lesny and Aaron Yaw combined to finish at +198 to lead Sunset Country to a fourth-place finish in the 12-team field (two teams per zone).
Yaw finished at +132 above his 122 entry average while Lesny was at +66 above her 170 average.
Scott Miner and Kennedy Ponton of Dryden, Sunset Country’s other duo in the High-Lo Doubles, wound up at +93 to finish in eighth place overall.
Gateway took the gold medal (+285), with Nickel District winning silver (+268) and Thunder Bay the bronze (+225).
Individually, Miner was +61 above his 215 average while Ponton was +32 above her 153 average.
In the Executive portion of the tournament, Toni Benning of Fort Frances was the top Sunset Country bowler–finishing in fourth place in the Secretary Division at +32 above her 201 entry average.
Justin Pitre of Gateway captured gold (+226 above his 209 average), with Leo-Paul Alie of Gold Belt taking silver (+206 above his 124 average) and Jean Black of Cambrian North winning bronze (+122 above her 178 average).
Ted Lake of Dryden led Sunset Country to fifth place in the Treasurers Division–finishing at minus-47 below his 164 average.
Nicole Leblanc of Gold Belt won gold (+278 above her 170 average), Donna Lauzon of Cambrian North took silver (+165 above her 201 average), and Anne Withers of Nickel District claimed bronze (+143 above her 158 average).
Mike Behan of Fort Frances also had a fifth-place finish for Sunset Country in the Presidents Division, finishing at minus-124 below his 221 entry average.
Andre Bernard of Nickel District topped the division (+108 above his 174 average), followed by Laurent Lapensee of Gateway (+37 above his 180 average) and Marc Blais of Gold Belt (minus-31 below his 139 average).
Sunset Country wound up third in the aggregate standings with 34 points, trailing only Gateway (43) and Nickel District (35).
Gold Belt finished fourth with 25 points, followed by Cambrian North (25) and Thunder Bay (17).
