MORGANTOWN – Thirteen schools gathered at Suburban Lanes in Morgantown on a frigid Saturday morning to battle for the OVAC 4A-5A bowling championship.

Both boys’ and girls’ teams hit the lanes in the university city, with individual and team titles on the line.

The University High girls’ team swept the competition with both the individual and team titles, as Charlotte LoPinto-Ludas totaled a score of 601 for the day, one point ahead of the runner-up. She led the Hawks to the team title with a score of 3,069.

“We started the year out with multiple novice bowlers and a few that had experience as established bowlers,” UHS coach Donnie Gilbert said. “It’s been amazing to watch our girls grow as a team. To be honest, though, all the credit coaching-wise goes to Dave Varner and Jeff Street. The amount of skill they help these kids develop is amazing, and they are the reason the team is where it is in that regard. It’s been fun to watch these kids come together and accomplish goals.”

The Morgantown High boys took home the team title with a total of 3,776 in the tournament.

MHS led University by less than 20 pins after the first three games of the day, entering the Baker’s format of play.

Three games were bowled with five bowlers adding their scores together for their total. The final four games were bowled using Baker’s rules, meaning five bowlers completed one entire game together as a team (two frames per bowler).

Michael Kovalski of Buckeye Local (Oh.) captured the individual title for the boys with a score of 714 on the day. MHS was led by Matthew Brown, who finished runner-up in the individual standings.

For just the second season in the program’s history, coach Nate Houser says the growth has been immense in a short time.

“It’s taken a lot of hard work from these kids to get to this point this quickly,” he said. “They’re simply committed to getting better, and in a sport that can prove to be difficult, especially to learn. They’ve taken it seriously all season, and the results show that.”