Junior Neil Debski Leads Baldwin Boys, Girls at Regional Individual Bowling Championships

 competed in boys and girls regional individual tournaments at North Versailles Bowling Center on Saturday, Feb. 26, and has the hardware to prove it.

Baldwin qualified five athletes for the boys regional tournament and three athletes for the girls bracket but ultimately sent three boys – junior Neil Debski and seniors Drew Hartman and Jim Stoicovy – and one girl – junior Ashley Niziol.

Each of those bowlers qualified for the regional tournaments, called the Pennsylvania West Regional championships and featuring bowlers from the Erie to Pittsburgh areas, based on their performances from this season, but just one competitor in each tournament would rise from the pack as regional champions.

For the boys, that ended up being Baldwin's own Debski, who had to turn away his fellow Highlanders during the course of his run.

Debski eliminated Stoicovy in the first round, 190-147, before moving on to face Hartman, who had been granted a first-round bye, in the quarterfinals.

Hartman ran into the hot-handed Debski at the wrong time, as the junior rolled a near-perfect, tournament-high 279 score to top Hartman's 175.

Debski then edged another bowler in the semifinals, 186-176, before winning the final, 261-223.

Niziol lost a first-round match on the girls side, 194-117.