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Mertens, Young steal show at Junior Bowlers Tour event

From Local And Wire Reports

It was a Junior Bowlers Tour tournament to remember – certainly an exciting event on which to wind up the calendar year.

Nik Gosselin, as he had three weeks earlier in Lewiston, got the day started with a perfect game, the 300 highlighting a 934 four-game series as the JBT doubles tournament got under way last Sunday at North Bowl.

But while that certainly had the house buzzing, Toby Mertens and Dylan Young stole the spotlight as the day wore on.

With consistent bowling, Mertens and Young qualified in the fourth position going into the five-team playoff finals.

In the first roll-off, Mertens and Young faced No. 5 qualifiers Steele Adams and Ryan Gately. Their match ended in a tie, requiring a tiebreaker utilizing the ninth and 10th frames, which Mertens and Young won by one pin.

That was the launching pad. They took off like the Energizer Bunny, beating No. 3 qualifiers Vanessa Vanderweide and Anthony Lewis and then Gosselin and Mathew Shears, who had qualified second, to get a shot at Karl Fencl and Jesse Covington, who sat in the No. 1 position all day.

They didn’t finish there. Mertens and Young won the finals 370-347 to claim their first JBT championship.

Kolette Foster had a 224 for the high game for the girls.

The next JBT will be at Deer Park on Jan. 12.

Letters of intent

Gonzaga women’s rowing:

Isabelle Belzil, Edmonton, Alberta, GU’s first international recruit, third in Junior Pair at the 2012 National Rowing Championships, silver medalist in the U-21 Quad at the Canada Summer Games in 2013; Karly Dougherty, El Dorado Hills, Calif., coxswain, in the Varsity 4+ that placed third at Southwest Regionals and fourth at Youth Nationals; Ashley Patterson, El Dorado Hills, Calif., Dougherty teammate who stroked the Varsity 4+ that finished third at Southwest Junior Regionals and fourth at Youth Nationals a season ago; Hannah Schneiderman, Bainbridge Island, Wash., placed second in Varsity 8+ at Northwest Regional Championship, and went on to race at the Youth National Championships; Isabella Spies, San Diego, has stroked both Varsity 4+ and Varsity 8+ raced in Youth 4+ at the Head of the Charles in 2013 and earned a bid for her club for next year’s regatta; and Madison Spina, Scottsdale, Ariz., a multi-talented athlete with success in swimming, volleyball, soccer, softball and basketball recently took up rowing “and instantly found it to be my new passion.”