MARQUETTE — Westwood freshman Kylie Junak proved her regional singles victory was no fluke as she advanced the furthest of any area competitor at the MHSAA state bowling finals held in several locations in the Lower Peninsula on Friday and Saturday.

Competing in Division 4 girls singles on Saturday at Royal Scot Lanes in Lansing, Junak advanced to the semifinals before she was eliminated, rolling a dozen games that day and averaging 175.3.

Junak survived the six-game qualifying round, where only 16 of the 60 bowlers advanced. She shot the eighth-highest score of 1,084 on games of 128, 182, 225, 225, 148 and 176 to average 180.7 in that round. She finished 60 pins ahead of the first bowler to miss the cut in 17th place.

In the single-elimination finals bracket, bowlers rolled two games each round.

Junak opened with a narrow 337-331 victory over junior Arielle Oakley of Jackson Vandercook Lake. Junak had games of 183 and 154 to Oakley’s 166 and 165.

In the quarterfinals, Junak fended off senior Kayla Mathews of Leslie 366-313. Junak shot 186 and 180 to Mathews’ 156 and 157.

Junak finally met her match in the semis as senior Dakota Smith of Bronson prevailed 373-316. Smith had 197 and 176 to Junak’s 161 and 155.

In the next round, junior Kassidy Alexander of Hanover-Horton clinched the state title with a 371-364 win over Smith.

One other area bowler also made it through qualifying into the finals.

Patriots junior Robert Papp tied for sixth in Division 4 boys qualifying, also on Saturday at Royal Scot.

Papp shot 1,194, a 199.0 average, on games of 185, 206, 160, 229, 149 and 265, finishing 67 pins ahead of the 17th-place bowler and just 45 pins out of the top qualifying spot.

In the finals, he went up against senior Jack Schultz of Grass Lake and lost 401-339. Schultz rolled 199 and 202 to Papp’s 167 and 172.

Junior Hunter Haldaman of Traverse City Christian, the No. 2 qualifier, won the state title with a 404-373 win over senior Ethan Androl of Unionville-Sebewaing.

Papp’s teammate Stephen Kangas, also a junior, finished 49th in qualifying with 1,008 on games of 178, 124, 190, 190, 177 and 149. He missed the finals cut by 122 pins.

The Ishpeming-Negaunee cooperative also had a team and singles bowler make the Division 3 finals at JAX 60 in Jackson.

Junior Dawsen Emanuelson came in 32nd in the boys singles on Saturday, shooting 1,084 with 188, 166, 172, 169, 226 and 163. He missed 16th place by 83 pins.

The I-N girls placed 16th of 18 in team competition held Friday. I-N totaled 2,562 over 18 games, shooting 658 and 795 “regular” games plus 1,109 over eight Baker games, where teammates alternate frames to come up with single-game scores.

I-N missed the top-eight cut to the finals by 281 pins. Individual scores in this competition weren’t available on the MHSAA website, www.mhsaa.com.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.