Marathon on the Lanes

TOP: Frankel bowling team seniors (from left) Oz Gamer, Charlie LaBelle, Eli Gordon, Andy Tukel, Daniel Stryk and Adam State line up with

STEVE STEIN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

It was a long day at Ten Pin Alley in Tecumseh for the Frankel Jewish Academy bowling team.

Frankel bowlers normally compete in the individual and team portions of the MHSAA regional tournament at Ten Pin over two days — individual on Thursday instead of the scheduled day Saturday, and team on Friday, the scheduled day.

But the Jaguars bowled only on Thursday this season (Feb. 24) because a snowstorm delayed the start of competition Friday (Feb. 25) by several hours.

“Ten Pin Alley, the MHSAA and host school for the regional are always wonderful to work with and accommodating for us, and that was particularly the case this year,” said Frankel coach Joe Bernstein.

“Doing everything on Thursday was the best idea for us. I didn’t want to force our bowlers make a decision to continue bowling or go home Friday afternoon (for Shabbos) if there was a chance to qualify for state.”

Bernstein said Frankel’s five bowlers each rolled the equivalent of 12 games over threeto- four hours with about a half-hour break Feb. 24. No substitutes were available to give the five a rest.

“People don’t think bowling is a tiresome sport, but when you roll that many games very quickly, it’s tiring,” Bernstein said.

Frankel senior Eli Gordon said he felt fine at the beginning of the day in his first three individual games, then started tiring, but he perked

BRIAN SEVALD