Pottsgrove sophomore Swavely secures boys’ singles title at Eastern Pa. Regional
A moment a fraction away from David Swavely’s ‘favorite part of bowling’ created a memory that may long be his favorite on Saturday at the Eastern Pa. Regional Bowling Championships.
The Pottsgrove sophomore knew what was required entering the 10th frame of his championship final with Pennsbury’s Vincent Biehn.
“It’s my favorite part of bowling, when you have to strike to win. You get up there, you throw it and let a nice loud scream or cheer and the team and crowd goes wild,” Swavely said. “I strive for those moments.”
While any mark – a spare or strike – would do, Swavely left no doubt as he rolled three strikes in the 10th to capture the Eastern Regional boys’ singles championship with a 233-208 win over Pennsbury’s Biehn in the final at Dutch Lanes in Lancaster.
“That was probably the best moment of my career,” said Swavely in a phone interview Sunday. “The amount of stress and panic that I had before, and it felt like everything was finally coming together. I let go of it and I screamed and it was just, ‘One time, please strike. That’s all I want.’
“I feel like I’m on Cloud Nine right now. This win feels so good to know that all my hard work paid off. And I’m not done. I still have everything else I’m working for ahead of me and I’m one step closer.”
Swavely, teammate Noak Riker and Daniel Boone’s Alex Horton finished top 8 to advance to the Pa. High School Championships on Friday at North Versailles Bowl in Pittsburgh.
Swavely sought a change in the week leading up to the regional tournament so he made a bold move. The answer was in the basement.
“Earlier in the week during high school practice I was tired of using the same old bowling balls, so I went down to the bowling balls I haven’t used in a little bit in the basement. I pulled a random one and I used it on the (oil) pattern they put down Thursday for a little practice and it looked really good.
“I said, ‘We’re gonna try this Saturday.’ Right off from the start of practice everything was working. I was striking a lot in practice and the pattern played to my advantage, right up my line.”
Though he considered it ‘a huge risk’, the ball provided more hook than the balls he’d been using and allowed Swavely to finishing fourth after qualifying (1,175 five-game series), a massive improvement from his freshman year when he was 142nd after an 848 series.
Swavely made his way through the bracket finals with a quarterfinal win over Hempfield’s Derick Keller, 220-195, and ousted No. 1 seed Ayden Davis of Antietam, 235-193, in the semifinals.
“I came off a huge last game to jump myself into the cut to make sure I made it into states. That gave me a first-round bye which was a huge advantage because I got to sit out a little bit, cool down and let my body rest,” Swavely said. “As soon I jumped into that first match, I had momentum on my side, everybody in the crowd cheering for me, and it was a lot more competitive.”
Boone’s Horton was the No. 2 finisher after qualifying and rolled a 300 in the fifth game of his 1,225 series.
But Horton ran into Biehn in the semifinals and lost 267-219. Biehn’s 267 was the top score of any round in the finals.
Horton went on to finish third, downing Antietam’s Davis in the third-place match 226-213.
Riker was sixth after qualifying (1,146) and went on to place seventh, besting Midd-West’s Trey Wagner 230-215 in the 7th-place match.
Other locals who competed at regionals but did not advance included Spring-Ford’s Mason Doan (23rd, 1,078 series), Boyertown’s Carmen Rosselli (25th, 1,067), Daniel Boone’s Patrick Moore (88th, 877) and Pottsgrove’s Wyatt Lear (96th, 793).
In the girls’ singles competition at Leisure Lanes, Pottsgrove’s Tori Cappiello finished just outside of advancing. She finished 10th in qualifying with a 1,046 series, 16 pins short of a top 8 placement.
The girls’ event was won by top seed Camryn Brown of Gov. Mifflin.
In the program’s four years of existence, Pottsgrove hadn’t had a state championship qualifier.
The Falcons have now have two.
“To have another teammate, another Pottsgrove person, have that school chemistry together to go up to states together, it’s amazing,” said Swavely.
