After Oxford’s bowling boys claimed the title a few weeks earlier, Oxford’s ladies also became the OAA Red champs on Thursday night by reclaiming the title from Lake Orion. Both teams also beat Royal Oak and competed in the OAA Championship meet last week.

On Monday, Royal Oak proved no match for either Wildcat team. The ladies took Royal Oak 26-4 and were led by Claire Sandstrom, who bowled games of 236 and 184. As for the boys, they won 21-9 and were led by Zach Barrows with games of 248 and 224.

In a weekend championship meet on Saturday, both Wildcat teams couldn’t quite come out on top. Both teams were seeded third going into the day.

Oxford’s ladies bowled hard and overcame Royal Oak, but lost to Farmington Harrison in the semi-finals round. Harrison is the only team to beat the Wildcats this season.

Oxford’s boys got into the finals round by slipping past Lake Orion and North Farmington, but fell short to Harrsion in the final round.

On Feb. 8, both teams took on Lake Orion. For the ladies, Oxford and Lake Orion would face off as two of the best teams in the state, with the Dragons ranking as second and the Wildcats being third.

In the first round, the Dragons bowled a 300 game, something it can boast of as they are the only players in the state to bowl that high as women. Though Oxford fell behind in the first round, Head Coach JR Lafnear said, “The Wildcats have been behind before and have a no-quit attitude” and were ready to make a comeback.

Thanks to the efforts of Grace Meyer, Mya Bruno, Savanah Barnes, Sandstrom and Megan Armbruster, the ladies bowled a season-high group round of 1,018 to get back in the game. In the second group game, the Wildcats smashed the Dragons 1,017-849 to take home the title.

Bruno led Oxford in the second game with a season-high game of 225. Other key players were Barnes with 205, Sandstrom with 204, Armbruster with 201 and Meyer with 182.

“This was the best team effort from the girls all year,” Lafnear said. “They have been working toward this (and) they deserve the title. They beat an incredible team and should be proud of themselves. Now, we can set out sights on regionals and the state events.”

The boys, who already hold the OAA Red title for the sixth consecutive year and are ranked second in the state, eased to a 23-7 win over the Dragons.

Luke Acton led his team with games of 236 and 228. He was followed by Justin Powell, who bowled a 252 game, and Collin Massie, who bowled a 223 game.

Both teams finished the regular season as the OAA Red  champs and will continue on to the regional competition on Feb. 22.

The ladies finished 8-1 overall and the boys are 10-1.