Daniel Boone's Alex Horton, Gov. Mifflin's Camryn Brown win District 3 bowling titles

Feb. 28—Alex Horton is a four-time All-Berks bowler who carried the second-best average in the BCIAA this season.

When he finished a dismal 28th in qualifying in the BCIAA singles tournament several days ago, he was crestfallen after missing his last chance to win a county title.

"Yes, I was disappointed," Horton said. "I just felt like I didn't bowl up to my caliber."

He stepped away from bowling for a few days, used his subpar performance as motivation for Saturday's District 3 singles tournament and won the championship.

Horton, a Daniel Boone senior, defeated Antietam sophomore Ayden Davis 190-183 in the finals at Hiester Lanes. He also won the district crown as a freshman.

"I like this one more than my freshman year," Horton said. "I wasn't quite sure what was going on with everything then, like how high school bowling really worked. Now I've been through it for a few years. This is a good one."

Gov. Mifflin senior Camryn Brown also rebounded from her performance in the BCIAA singles tournament, defeating Morgan Kline of Northern Lebanon 285-201 in the finals for her first District 3 girls championship.

Brown, who carried the top girls average in the BCAA, lost to teammate and best friend Andria Addis in the county semifinals. The two squared off again in the district semifinals, and Brown beat Addis 222-170. Addis, who won the Berks title, developed a blister that opened on her right hand early in the match.

"Andria couldn't roll the ball correctly," Brown said. "It was very sad. We were trying to figure out a way that she could continue to bowl. It didn't really work out. Her finger kept on hurting."

In the final, Brown rolled 10 consecutive strikes before she left a 2-4-5-8 split in the 10th frame, denying her a shot at a perfect game but not the title.

"It would have been great to come out of this with the medal and the 300," she said, "but not everything works out the way you want it. Since this was my first time making the stepladder (finals) at districts, it's pretty exciting."

Brown finished second in qualifying, 77 pins behind Kline, and overcame a 133 in her very first game.

"I had no clue what I was doing," she said. "Nothing was working my way. I had no line (to the pocket). I finally found a line in the fifth frame of the second game."

Addis, the No. 3 seed, defeated Gov. Mifflin senior and No. 6 seed Emily Breidegam 233-161 in the quarterfinals. Wilson senior Sydney Binkley qualified fourth and lost to Julie Getz of McCaskey 178-145 in the other quarterfinal.

Addis finished in third place, Binkley in fifth and Breidegam in sixth.

Horton and Davis were the only Berks boys to qualify for the finals, Horton at No. 1 and Davis at No. 2. Horton defeated Darren Zombro III of Cedar Crest 193-178 in the semifinals, and Davis beat Nick Tomlinson of Manheim Township 233-198.

That paired the two friends in the championship match, less than 24 hours after they practiced together at Hiester Lanes.

"I took a couple days off after counties to mentally recover after what happened and then practiced Friday," Horton said. "I felt pretty good about my game after that practice session."

He made four consecutive strikes to build a lead after seven frames and then left three consecutive splits, including a nearly impossible 2-4-6-10 in the 10th.

"At that point I felt like I had to at least give it a chance and I made it," Horton said. "I would say if I left 100 of them, I'd probably make five of them. That forced Ayden to double in the 10th and he wasn't able to do that.

"It happened to work out today. Everything went my way."