Two Presque Isle-based candlepin bowling teams rolled their way to top honors in the 85th annual tournament of the Eastern Maine Bowling Association. The longtime competition, hosted by Trinity Lodge No. 130 of Presque Isle and held March 28-31 at Northern Lanes and the Lodge of Elks, drew bowlers and fans from throughout Washington and Aroostook counties.
With a winning percentage of 88, the Presque Isle Elks No. 1 team nudged out cross-town opponents Trinity, knocking down 343 more pins during the four-day event. Presque Isle Elks No. 2 came in third overall, 137 pins behind Trinity. Members of the championship team included Randy Hitchcock, Larry Pulcifur, Moe Collins, Dave Donahue and Richard Fletcher. Representing Trinity were Tom Pelkey, Terry Grant, Matt Simonds and Larry Good.
Individually, Trinity Lodge’s Pelkey scored the highest tourney average at 121.07, followed by Rick Tidd of Houlton Elks No. 1 at 120.96 and Tim Stewart of the Houlton Odd Fellows at 119.96.
Rounding out the top 10 were Hitchcock of Presque Isle Elks No. 1, 119.93; Mike Gardner of PI Elks No. 2, 117.63; Grant of Trinity Lodge, 117.19; Pulcifur of PI Elks No. 1, 115.83; Jon Fraser of Odd Fellows, 114.89; Collins of PI Elks No. 2, 114.48; and Michael Lee of PI Elks No. 2, 113.67.
Houlton’s Tidd rolled the high single with a 178 while team-wise, the Houlton Elks No. 1 (claimed top single string honors at 626. Other Houlton Elks No. 1 bowlers included Bryan Swallow, Tyler Perry, Chris Stewart and Laurel Veysey.
Trinity’s Grant claimed the high three honors with a 418 while the PI Elks No. 1 won the team high-three title. Charley Estey, bowling for the Calais Elks No. 2 team, earned low single for the tourney with a 71.
Final team standings were:
PI Elks No. 1 32-4
Trinity Lodge 28-8
PI Elks No. 2 24-12
Houlton Odd Fellows 23-13
Calais Elks No. 1 19-17
Houlton Elks No. 1 16-20
Houlton Elks No. 2 12-24
Spednic Club No. 2 12-24
Spednic Club No. 1 10-26
Calais Elks No. 2 4-32
Other top Presque Isle bowlers included: George Michaels, 12th; Rick Curtis, 23rd; and Don Michaud, 42nd. Others among the top 45 from Houlton were Rick Tarr, 14th; Kai Libby, 34th; Gordie Stairs, 35th; Rob Faulkner, 39th; Doug Merritt, 41st; and Barry Clark, 43rd.
This year’s Eastern Maine Bowling Tournament was dedicated to the late Francis Allen of Presque Isle.
For more PI bowling stats, please see page 11.
