Lady Wildcats finish third in region
GRAND BLANC — The Oxford varsity boys bowling team advanced to the MHSAA State Finals in Allen Park after coming in second place during the Region 3 Championship in Grand Blanc on Friday.
The Oxford girls finished third in the region but need to finish in the top two to advance.
The regional championship at Grand Blanc Lanes has 11 teams and power programs like Davison, Grand Blanc, Holt, Lapeer and Flushing,” said head coach JR Lafnear. “(We knew) it would be extremely tough to finish in the top two to get out of this region and advance to the finals.”
The team event was held Friday and the singles event Saturday.

Boys Bowling
On Friday, the Wildcat boys bowled well during eight Baker games, averaging nearly 207 pins per game and held a 71-pin lead over the Davison Cardinals. In game 1 of the two full-team games, the Wildcats scored well, with freshmen Dominic Hambly leading the charge. Hambly strung the first nine strikes together enroute to a 267 game.
The team posted a strong 1,027 score and held on to the number 1 spot with one game to go. The Davison squad closed the gap by 48 pins with a 1,075 game.
Struggling in the front part of game 2, the Wildcats inserted Dominic Kempen into the lineup, and he sparked the team with five strikes in a row, Lafnear said.
Joining in on the strikefest was Jacob Kemenah, Eli Wright and Hambly. The Oxford bowlers threw 19 strikes in the final 25 shots to score 979 in game 2. However, the Davison team scored 1,065 and claimed the Region 3 title.
The goal was to advance and the 3,661 total for the Wildcats would be 66 pins better than the third place Flushing team, advancing Oxford to the state finals on Friday and Saturday, Lafnear said.

Oxford Girls Team Bowling
“The Oxford Girls were in the hunt early but the final three Baker scores of 143, 141 and 128 spelled doom for the ladies. They did continue to fight with solid team games of 817 and 904,” Lafnear said. “The Wildcats performed well for such a young team and finished in the third position. They finished 172 pins behind second place Holt and 238 pin behind regional winners Grand Blanc.”
The Oxford girls finished the season 10-0 in match play.
Individual Matches
The boys had two Wildcats advance to the state finals individual championship. Jacob Kemenah fired four strikes in his last five shots to earn the 7th place spot by just 10 pins. Junior Matt vonKnorring, behind a final three games of 279, 233 and 226, earned the 4th spot. He was just 43 pins behind the regional winner Joe Merz of Davison.
For the girls, six Wildcats all finished in the top 20. The only Oxford bowler to advance was sophomore Alanna Waltz, who finished 4th only 29 pins behind the regional winner, Lily Jurvelin of Flushing. The top seven advance to the state finals.
“This was an exhausting two days of intense competition. The best that Genesee County has to offer was here. I’m proud of how everyone competed and represented the program. I wouldn’t be surprised if a state champion came out of this region. I’m incredibly proud of the effort from both teams and all the individuals,” Lafnear said.