Carson bowling wins again

The Carson bowling team continued its perfect dominance on Wednesday when it won its eighth straight High Desert Interscholastic Association title.

Carson hopes that next year it can put its dominance on the line at the state level. Carson won another Northern Nevada title on Wednesday at the Reno National Bowling Stadium by beating Wooster 41-4.

Wooster came in as the Mountain Division champion while Carson came in as the Valley Division champion. Carson finished the year 9-0 and hasn't lost now in eight years.

The Washoe County School District is looking to pursue making bowling a Nevada Interscholastic Activies Association-sanctioned sport. If that happens, then Carson would also have to pursue making bowling an NIAA-sanctioned sport to continue to compete in Northern Nevada.

Bowling is an NIAA-sanctioned sport in Southern Nevada. If Carson becomes an NIAA-sanctioned team, it could compete for a state title.

"We need to make this a letter sport to keep the program going," said Gold Dust West bowling center manager Bill Baker, an advisor for the team. Gold Dust West also is a sponsor of the team.

Carson also swept the bowler of the year honors as Bryan Byrne was Northern Nevada's Male Bowler of the Year with a 194 average. Tami Conn was the Female Bowler of the Year with a 179 average. Those averages are solid since eighty percent of the matches this year were rolled on PBA-pattern lanes.

Student-athlete award winners based on achievement in the classroom and on the lanes were also presented to each school. Michael Montiel, with a 3.94 grade point average and a 164 average was Carson's male winner and Courtney Maxwell, with a 3.55 G.P.A. and a 151 average was the female winner.

Among the leaders for Carson on Wednesday were Brad Mustafa, who had a 235 high-game and Derek Fitchett, who had a 208-high game. Again, those scores were impressive since the match was held on PBA-pattern lanes. Rounding out Carson's lineup on Wednesday were Dustin Seipel, Sean Weekly, Jared Wells and Katie Mandoki.

As he as noted in the past, Baker gave much of the credit for Carson's success to the community's strong junior bowling programs.