Junior Tresten Bergeron has had two nicknames as part of the club bowling team at Lawrence High School. One was “Ging-squatch” — Bergeron said it was a combination of Ginger, for when he had bright orange hair, and Sasquatch, because of his size. The team also called him, “The Cannon,” because of his bowling style.
“When he threw the ball, it would go halfway down the lane before it hit,” Lawrence coach Nikki Cunningham said.
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Bergeron has improved his approach. His average has gone up about 50 pins since last season, and earlier this month he won the individual state bowling championship in Lewiston.
“He’s improved 150 percent,” Cunningham said. “He’s actually gotten a lot of practice in. Now, when he throws the ball, it’s silent and it hits dead-on.”
Bergeron is pretty low-key. He bowls only once or twice a week and he celebrated the state title by going out to eat at Red Robin the next day. That approach got him through when he had his rough spots at states.
The states were held at Sparetime Recreation in Lewiston, and Bergeron was going up against students representing teams such as Cony, Hermon and Carrabec, as well as ones like Casco Bay, Western, and Spruce Mountain A and B.
There were 34 bowlers overall and, after two games apiece, the top 17 moved on to the second round. Bergeron bowled back-to-back games of 244 and 215 to give him the lead after the first round.
After two more games, only four of the remaining 17 moved on to the semifinals, but Bergeron was still in good shape, because the determining scores for the semifinals were the total of all four games. Bergeron needed that cushion, as he was the fourth and final qualifier.
“The second round were the harder set of lanes, and I bowled a 181 and then a 167,” Bergeron said. “So I didn’t think I was really going to move on, but I ended up getting lucky and moving on.”
That second set of lanes was brutal for everyone, Bergeron said.
“One of the other guys on our team is normally really good,” he said. “But he started out on that pair of lanes and didn’t move on to the second round. Before we even started, the Lewiston kids went over there and they even said that this was going to be a hard set of lanes to bowl on. The ball wouldn’t work with you at all.”
In the semis, Bergeron edged top-seeded Nate Boothby of Cony, 187 to 183. Bergeron originally looked up and thought he had lost by four pins, then realized he had the scores backward.
The finals were again a one-game format. Bergeron and Andro Valley’s Jake Dubuc also competed down to the last frame. Dubuc ended up with a 6-7-10 split, and with Bergeron needing a strike and eight pins, he banged out three strikes in a row for a 161-147 win.
“He was just shocked (by the split),” Bergeron said. “Right before that, he said, ‘Anything could happen.’ Then that happened. He’s like, ‘I told you. Anything could happen.'”
Bergeron said his average is about 170. Next year is up in the air for everyone, because Lawrence’s “home” alley is Sparetime Recreation in Waterville, and that is expected to be a church sanctuary by this time next year. With the Waterville Sparetime closing, Cunningham and Bergeron said the school is pursuing options such as traveling with other teams to matches in Augusta and Skowhegan so the Bulldogs can still field a team.
Matt DiFilippo — 861-9243
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