Covington Catholic’s bowling team and Boone County’s Maddox Kurlya were close to the top prize, instead the two settled for runner-up at the boys KHSAA state bowling tournament in Louisville on Monday.
The Colonels lost to Trinity in the championship round, Kuryla coming from the No. 4 seed to face Trinity’s Blake Ackermann in the finals, losing 235-184 in the championship.
In the qualifying round, CovCath bowled a 1,247 to earn the No. 2 seed. They then defeated Newport Central Catholic, Central Hardin and Frederick Douglass on their way to the finals.
Lloyd Memorial, Campbell County and Newport Central Catholic also made the state tournament. Lloyd earned the No. 5 seed in the qualifying round and lost to Johnson Central in the first round. Campbell County was the No. 6 seed, defeating Bryan Station before losing to Frederick Douglass in the quarterfinals. Newport Central Catholic was the 15-seed and lost to the Colonels in the first round.
Kuryla bowled a 670 in prelims, finishing fourth and advancing to the semifinals. He then bowled a 433 in the next two games to advance to the step ladder bracket and the final four remaining. From there he had to win two games, knocking off Frederick Douglass’ Micah Jones, 254-223 and Trinity’s Gage Blevins, 216-193, before falling to Ackermann.
Covington Catholic’s Mason Bowman also reached the semifinals after a 665 in his first three games in the prelims. He then bowled a 401 in his next two games, missing the step ladder bracket by 52 pins. His teammate Dylan Davis just missed out on the semis, rolling a 627 in his first three games and missing the semis by 23 pins.
Others from NKY that participated individually were Simon Kenton’s Tyler Blume (14th with a 613 in prelims), Simon Kenton’s Aleck Meredith (20th, 575) and Covington Catholic’s Max Hardin (31st, 502). In order to reach the semifinal round, bowlers had to be in the top eight of the standings.
The girls state tournament is on Tuesday with the unified competition concluding the state tournament on Wednesday.