ESCANABA — High school bowlers doubled their fun — or at least their chance to throw strikes and pick up spares — at a marathon Upper Peninsula Bowling Conference meet held at the Bowl-A-Rama in Escanaba on Saturday.

Usually two shifts of bowling are needed to get all conference teams in, but at this meet, all teams actually bowled two matches unless they had a scheduled bye.

Marquette and L’Anse did take part in two matches, while Ishpeming-Negaunee bowled the morning shift and Westwood was mostly in the afternoon shift.

Three Marquette County boys were among the five who rolled a 200 game or better on this day.

In the opener, I-N junior Killian Ryan hit 214, while in the afternoon, Westwood senior Roman Yuhas bowled 206 and Marquette senior Daniel Gramprie attained 204.

In addition, Iron Mountain sophomore Jaricho Hudson rolled the day’s highest game, 230, while Escanaba senior Aiden McNair hit 212.

There were four Baker-style games reaching at least 200, Baker being where teammates alternate frames to come up with a single-game score. That format and regular bowling where competitors roll their own games are included in UPBC matches.

The Marquette boys rolled an even 200, while the Iron Mountain boys had 203 (early shift) and 202 (afternoon shift), and Calumet 208.

In the team matches in the morning, Marquette won two of three from Ishpeming-Negaunee. The Sentinels boys won 31-9 over I-N and the MSHS X team took a 32.5-7.5 victory over I-N.

But the Ishpeming-Negaunee girls posted a 30-10 win over Marquette.

L’Anse won one of three matches, the Purple Hornets girls winning 40-0 over Escanaba. The Eskymos prevailed 29-11 in the boys match, while another I-N X team beat L’Anse X 27-13.

In another X match, Westwood defeated Iron Mountain 36-4.

Also in the morning, Gladstone and Calumet split a pair of contested matches, the Gladstone boys winning 27-13 and Calumet girls 35-5. Calumet also picked up a forfeit win in the X match over the Braves when Gladstone didn’t have enough bowlers available.

Iron Mountain won twice over Menominee, triumphing 38-2 in the boys match and winning by forfeit in the girls.

In the afternoon matches, Marquette and Westwood swept all three of their matches.

The Sentinels prevailed over L’Anse in the girls match 26-14, in the boys 37-3 and in X 38-2.

The Patriots were winners over Menominee in the boys match 39.5-0.5 and won by forfeit in the girls, while the Westwood X “B” team dropped Gladstone X 36-4.

Other matches at that time included Iron Mountain sweeping Calumet 33-7 in the boys, 28-12 in the girls and by forfeit in the X match.

Also, Escanaba and Gladstone split a pair of matches, the Esky boys winning 34-6 and Braves girls 40-0.

The UPBC holds its final regular-season weekend on Saturday at River Rock Lanes in Ishpeming, shift times scheduled for 10 a.m. and 1:30 p.m., with all four area programs scheduled for matches.

The following three Saturdays are reserved for UPBC finals tournaments — girls singles on Jan. 31 in Marinette, Wisconsin, boys singles on Feb. 7 in Iron Mountain and team finals at River Rock on Feb. 14.

For the two weeks after that, MHSAA regionals and then state finals will be held at Lower Peninsula bowling centers.

Story contents based on email received from Marquette assistant bowling coach Maria Virch. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.