Fifty bowlers from Williams Lake, Prince George and Quesnel converged at Cariboo Bowling Lanes in the lakecity Sunday for the Central Interior Youth Classic (CIYC).
“My original intention for the tournament was to give the youth bowlers in our area an opportunity to compete in a highly-competitive event that was fair and fun,” organizer Brent Taylor of Quesnel said.
“Traditionally, youth bowlers are divided by age and gender. The CIYC sorts our competitors based solely on their skill level, as determined by their average, so regardless of their age or gender they will only compete against other kids of similar skill set.”
All 50 bowlers registered were then sorted into five division based on their averages (A to E), where the top 10 averages become the A division, and so on, Taylor explained.
“The next step is the draft, and this is where the CIYC really departs from traditional tournament format,” he said. “In traditional tournaments, bowlers would be on a team with other bowlers from their own centre, but through our draft system kids from all the different centres get mixed together to form a team.”
The ‘A’ bowlers become captains and draft their teams.
“We bowl five games in each city over the course of three weekends,” Taylor said, noting the format is scratch match play, where bowlers in the same division compete against the bowler in the lane next to them.
For a win, a bowler earns one point. A loss provides no points, while a tie gives half a point. There are also two points available for a team total, bringing the maximum per match to seven points.
“At the end of the 15 games, the team with the most points is declared the winner,” he said. “We have an annual trophy that is engraved with all the names of the winning team and travels to the winning ‘A’ bowler’s centre for the year.”
Team members also earn individual trophies for first, second and third in the team events.
In addition, there are several categories recognized at the event: high single, high block (five-game total), high average, most improved and most sportsmanlike.
“In addition to being great competitors, we also want them to be great sports and we consider this award (most sportsmanlike) to be as important as any other that they earn on the lanes, and in many cases it is harder to earn,” Taylor said.
The following are results from the fifth annual CIYC:
Team Events (players listed in order from A to E divisions)
1.) Lezzyl Aquino, Ben Airey (Williams Lake), Holly Thurston, Caleb Cebuliak (WL), Austin Berston (WL) – 64 points
2.) Will Peters, Alex Airey (WL), Kyra Thurston, Jasmine Harrington, Naylene Runge – 62 points
3.) Cole Broen (WL), Kyra Burke, Hayley Thomas, Shawna Dumaine, Maia Towers – 57 points
Individual Awards (players listed in order from A to E divisions)
High Single: Lezzyl Aquino (336), Jadyn Arnett (320), Kaitlyn Harris (284), Caleb Cebuliak (258), Austin Berston (265)
High Block: Jesslyn Arnett (1,233), Alex Airey (1,215), Kaitlyn Harris (1,008), Caleb Cebuliak (1,110), Austin Berston (891)
High Average: Lezzyl Aquino (232), Alex Airey (222), Kaitlyn Harris (187), Caden Taylor (170), Nalyssa Runge (151)
Most Improved: Jesslyn Arnett (by 15), Kyra Burke (by 26), Kaitlyn Harris (by 34), Caden Taylor (by 45), Nalyssa Runge (by 33)
Most Sportsmanlike: Lezzyl Aquino, Ben Airey, Ryley Markovics, Aralynn Taylor, Oliver Da Silveira.
