Oxford’s high school bowling teams both had sound victories over Birmingham at their first bowling meet of the season Dec. 7.

The varsity boys bowling team won 27-3.

According to Head Coach J.R. Lafnear, Christian Cartner was the “shining star” on the boys’ team that night, as he rolled games of 269 and 256. Jimmy Demhel also landed among the top players that night, with a score of 224.

“The (boys) team is still working some bugs out and we took another step forward tonight. We have to continue to improve if we want to win our fourth-straight OAA title,” Lafnear said.

The Lady Wildcats bowling team beat Birmingham 29-1.

Lafnear attributed some of that credit to sophomore Claire Sandstrom, who bowled her first-ever 300 game.

“Claire (was) a hard-worker at this game. She puts her heart and soul into bowling and we couldn’t be happier for her,” Lafnear said.

Other stand-out players that night were Megan Armbruster, who bowled 223; Megan Kessler, with games of 192 and 188; and Abby Pappas, who bowled 170 and 185.

The girls achieved an impressive team score of 1,000 in the second game.

“The team looks good early in the season and should get even stronger as we go,” Lafnear added.