When Elliott Gordon, representing Ohio, came off the block with a 296 game, he alerted the U15 division and the rest of the Storm Youth Championship bowlers at All Star Lanes in Baton Rouge that he knew exactly what to do with a short was 37-foot oil pattern.
When he added a 218 and 256 for an opening three-game streak of 770 in the next two games, everyone in the center was paying attention.
After a final game of 267, Gordon picked up the gold medal and scholarship in the under-15 division for the pattern with a 252.4 average and a 1,262 total in five games.
He led 174 pins into the second five games with a 41-foot medium pattern, and while he couldn’t repeat his first round, he will go into Sunday’s last five games with a 104-pin lead.
Louisiana won medals on day one when Caroline Engeron of Albany took bronze in the U15 girls’ division with a five-game short pattern score of 847. Engeron then returned in the middle pattern and finished second for the silver medal with a 944 (188.8 average). She’s second in 10 games with a 179 average, 120 pins behind first.
Olivia Bares, who bowls for Chapelle High School and has the fourth best prep average in the state going into the playoffs next week, had the girls’ best game of the day with a 258 on the short pattern.
The U18 divisions are led by Karina Capron, who won the SYC in her home state of Nevada last month with a 198 average and a nine-pin lead in the girls’ category, and Logan Frishman of Texas leads the boys with a 221 average.
In the U12 division, Florida’s Kristofer Wagner is the 10-game leader after a 278 took him to a daily average of 206.
The final five games to determine the overall titles on the 44-foot pattern begin at 10 a.m. Sunday.
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