Vernon bowlers made a little history Easter Weekend.
Players Bailey Lawson and Wayne Schulz, along with coach Ivan Soroka, all of Lincoln Lanes, were part of the Okanagan men’s team competing at the 2022 British Columbia Open 5-Pin Championship in Surrey.
The event sees the province divided into six zones – Okanagan, Vancouver Island, Lower Mainland, Fraser Valley South, Fraser Valley North and B.C. North, with teams and individuals playing a 15-game round-robin which helps determine the winner.
Joined by bowlers from Kelowna and Penticton, Lawson, Schultz, Soroka and the Okanagan men’s team won the gold medal, and will now represent the province in June at the National Championship in St. John’s, NL.
The Okanagan led after the 15 games to advance to the final against the Lower Mainland, who had to defeat the Okanagan twice to win gold. The Lower Mainland squad won the first game but not the second.
The men’s single from Kelowna won bronze in the individual competition.
Lincoln Lanes’ Yvonne Walker, Jessy Buchanan and Kelsy Kusch were on the Okanagan women’s team that won silver.
The team, which also included bowlers from Chase and Kelowna, were second after 15 games and had to beat the Lower Mainland twice to win the provincial title. The Okanagan won the first game, but the Lower Mainland took the second.
The women’s single from Chase captured a silver medal.
Allen Burn and Dan DeBoer of Lincoln Lanes were joined by members from Kelowna and Creston on the Okanagan mixed team which placed third.
The history comes in the form of the event’s aggregate award. The Okanagan teams and singles won it, marking the first time in the event’s 53-year history that the region has won the aggregate title.
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