Carson bowling dominates for another title

It would be hard to find a club - on any level in any sport - that has never lost. That's what the Carson bowling team can claim.

In its five years of competing, Carson has never lost and won the section title every year. The team consisting of students from Carson High ran away with the High Desert Interscholastic Bowling Program title. The league consists of teams of students from high schools from across Northern Nevada.

Carson recently won its fifth straight title in an easy 37 1/2 - 7 1/2 win over Reed in the finals at the Reno Bowling Stadium.

Carson finished the regular season as the Valley Division champions while Galena won the Mountain Division. For the first time, a tournament-playoff was instituted - a move that team assistant coach Bill Baker said he believed was designed to try to stop Carson's dominance.

"In my opinion they were trying to knock us off," said Baker, who is also the Pinon Plaza bowling center manager.

But the move was made to no avail. Carson easily beat Wooster, Reno and Manogue on its way to the finals. Reed upset Galena to reach the finals where it was no match for Carson.

It should also just become more difficult for other teams to knock off Carson in the future as 9 of its 14 bowlers this year were underclassmen.

"We feel that it's just going to get better next year," said Baker about the team. "Our junior program is so good.

"They just can't wait to bowl. Our bowlers are just getting better and better. I look for them to get stronger next year. It just gets better and better every year."

One of Carson's best bowlers was a freshman, Bryan Byrne, who rolled the team's high three-game series for the year, 684. Kim Zink had the high average for the girls at 179 while Morgan Dickens had the high average for the boys at 195.

In the finals against Reed, Zink had a 657 series (201-178-278) and senior Charlie Hanes had the next highest series, 651 (237-192-222). Other bowlers on the team were:

Robyn Conn, T.J. Abreu, Steven Kunz, Aaron Lovell, Phil Martinovich, Cory Tyrell, Renee Furman, Brandon Beach, Brad Mustafa and Brad Williams. Carson High teacher Paul Martinovich is the team's head coach and Vern Barnes also serves as an assistant coach.

Bowling is a Nevada Interscholastic Activities Association sanctioned sport for Southern schools, but not for Northern schools.

"It's just a shame that Carson High doesn't recognize it," Baker said. "But it's a liability. I understand that."

The next logical step is for the Northern champion - which appears it will most likely be Carson for some time to come - to face the Southern champion for the state title. "I think we're still probably a year away from that," Baker said. "But it's coming."