Last week, both Oxford High School’s boys and girls bowling teams started their 2022-23 seasons. This week they hosted Birmingham on Monday and will travel to Imperial Bowling Lanes in Clinton Township to participate in a tournament. Next Monday they host the varsity teams of Bloomfield Hills. Games start at 3:30 p.m. at Collier Lanes.

* * *

Last Wednesday, the Wildcat Boys Varsity and JV bowling teams traveled to Luxury Lanes in Ferndale to defeat the Eagles.

The varsity boys wasted no time jumping on the young Ferndale team with the first 3 strikes and cruised to a 200 to 141 victory in game 1 of baker games. Oxford also claimed victory in Game 2 with a 193 to 165 score. The team continued to bowl well in head up play. Game 1 saw the Cats win 1059 to 805 and in Game 2 1,027 to 930. The match final score was 28.5 to 1.5.

Leading the way for the Wildcats was Junior Jacob Chouinard and Senior Tommy Mace. Jacob had games of 202 and 235 while Mace had games of 190 and 246. All The Wildcats bowled well, senior Jason Paslean 200, Senior Cam Lantzy 212, 202, Sophomore Tegan Neale 199 and 216. Sophomore Jake Kememah scored a victory with 184.  

The JV team won their match 28 to 2 making it a sweep for the Wildcats.

“We have been very busy the past week or so. The boys used all the time on the lanes and competed well tonight. Those are strong scores and they really had their A game. We’ve got a solid team, but the competition has picked it up and we’ll have to continue the strong bowling to win the OAA title,” said Oxford Coach Claude “Jr.” Lafner

* * *

The Wildcat Varsity Boys and Girls hosted the Oakland Athletic Association (OAA) Singles
Championship on December 5, at Collier Lanes. Oxford was pitted against all OAA varsity bowlers against each other. There were 76 boys and 48 girls who competed for the title.
After the three-game qualifying block Oxford found itself well
represented in the finals. Three boys bowled into the top 8. Jacob Chouinard led the way bowling games of 213, 254 and 194 to earn the Number 1 slot. Also qualifying for the boys were Jake Kememah with a 631 series and Cam Lantzy with a 593 series. Both Jake and Jacob would win their round of 8 matchups and advance to the Final 4. That’s where Kememah had an exciting match versus Noah Rouse of Troy Athens. Kememah shot 245 versus Rouse’s 239. That advanced Jake into the Finals versus Reese Coldwell of Lake Orion. The finals went right down to the tenth frame and Coldwell pulled out the victory, 183-178.
The Lady Bowlers from Oxford were well represented as well. Four of the final 8 who qualified were wearing the blue and gold of Oxford. Macey Strevel was the high qualifier for Oxford with a 522 series. She was followed by Caroline Martinez 514, Kiley Penzien 500 and Tessa Bonk 494. Penzien
and Martinez would both win their round of 8 match and advance into the Final Four. Martinez shot a very impressive 230 in her victory.

“Even though both girls would lose in their final four matchups they battled tough and represented Oxford well,” Lafner said.
Martinez, Bonk, and Strevel all took home medals for high games as did Chouinard. Chouinard, Kememah, Martinez and Strevel all medaled for their series as well.

* * *

The 2022-2023 Wildcat bowlers went to Center was Century Lanes in Waterford to bowl in the 16th Annual North Farmington Early Bird Tournament on December 3. The lanes were dressed in the Phantom oil pattern and were a big test for this year’s team, Lafner said. The boys faced 27 teams and the girls 17 teams.
“The boys struggled adjusting to the conditions and really didn’t bowl very well,” Lafner said. “They battled all day and finished 6th place out of the 27 teams that were in attendance. Jason Paslean finished in the top 8 out of 163 bowlers. He had games of 210,190, 200.”
The girls were in control all day. In First Place coming out of Bakers they slipped into Second Place behind Mason High School. They stayed there all day to capture the runner up award. Carolyn Martinez was Oxford’s top performer finishing the tournament with the second high series of the day. Carolyn bowled 143,193 and 204. Kiley Penzien finished in the 5th overall spot with games of 150,174 and 186. The Oxford squad had four girls in the top 15 spots. There were 98 girls in the tournament.