Bigfork bowler wins senior tournament championship

By FAITH MOLDAN / Bigfork Eagle

One of Dough Ahrendt's hobbies — bowling — has turned into something more.

Ahrendt, who said he started bowling in the '80s as something to do to kill time, won the Montana State Senior Bowling Championship held in Bigfork Oct. 6-7 and 13-14. His win in the C Division, ages 60-64, qualified him for the National Tournament in Reno Nev. The tournament will be held in April.

A member of three bowling leagues, Ahrendt bowls a lot. He also competes on a traveling league. Bigfork has four traveling teams with five bowlers each, Ahrendt said. Ahrendt bowls with the Tuesday night Alley Oops, a Wednesday team and the Thursday Over the Hill Gang.

"We enjoy it," Ahrendt said of him and his wife Barbara. His wife used to participate in league bowling as well, but now substitutes.

The state tournament consisted of two sets of three games for a scratch average. He bowled an average of 214 per game and a total pin count of 1422. His pin count was the highest of the tournament in any age division.

Ahrendt said there were five divisions based on age at the tournament. In his division, he bowled 192, 214 and 269 the first set for a total of 744. Ahrendt finished the second set with 276, 192 and 141 for a 609 average. Combined, Ahrendt's scores gave him a 1284 total scratch.

"It's going down hill," Ahrendt said of his average. Shoulder problems have brought down Ahrendt's average over the years, dropping it from 210 to 184. Ahrendt had shoulder surgery this summer. "Five years ago I had a 200 average," he said.

Ahrendt's average used in the state tournament was his season-ending average last year. If bowlers do not have an average from the previous year, they must have 27 games bowled in the current year to establish their average, Ahrendt said. He bowls with a 23 handicap.

This was not the first year Ahrendt has done well at the state tournament. He placed second in 2002, and was eighth in doubles that same year.

"You can run yourself ragged," Ahrendt said about traveling to tournaments across Montana and the country.

Ahrendt bowled in Reno about three years ago, he said. He bowled on his own dime then, as a number of bowlers travel to Reno and pay to compete. Ahrendt added that the national tournament experience gives him butterflies; music is played as the bowlers walk down an aisle between lanes in an alley that has 120 or more lanes.

Ahrendt's wife competed at the state tournament as well, as did a number of other Bigfork residents. Larry Metzger, Thomas Powell, Clarence Gembala, Susan Metzger, Paul Conrad, Robert DeRoche, Dale Dean, Buzz Torgerson, Don Rowe, Gloria Conrad, William Stine, Neil Lewis, James Brewer, Roxy Caerbert, Lou Pickavance, Marie Dean, Janice Caerbert, Betty Gembala, Larry Littrell, Betty Jordan, Bonnie Jennings, Ray Hein, Devlin Hill, Gary Simmons and Maureen Hein also competed in the state tournament.

Bigfork's North Shore Bowling Center is hosting another tournament, in which interested bowlers can still enter as a three-man team or singles. The tournament runs through the week of Dec. 9. Call 837-5381 for more information.