Columbia is building future bowling success through the introduction of a middle school bowling program this past winter.

Columbia Middle School bowlers performed very well in their inaugural season. The girls varsity and boys junior varsity teams each won their divisions, and the boys varsity finished in second place.

Coach Keith Jeffery said Tyler Grafton took individual high average honors at the Central City Tournament, leading the team to a second place finish.

At the end-of-season Conference Singles Tournament, CMS bowlers performed very well among the more than 250 bowlers, Jeffery said.

For the girls, Meagan Odum bowled her first 200, rolling a 203 to win the JV singles title.

In the boys tournament, Columbia “really rocked,” Jeffery said. In the varsity division, Nathan Bostick earned a fifth place medal on the strength of a 202 game.

In the JV division, CMS won five of the top six medals out of 70 competitors. Alex Kaempfe took sixth place, Isaiah Brower earned fourth place, Max Taake bowled his first 210 game to earn third place, and Cameron Nowak took first by one pin over teammate Stephan Auer, who earned second.

The CMS teams bowled seven divisional matches of two games each, Jeffery explained. Each game won was worth two points, and total pins were worth an additional point.

CMS girls varsity finished 32-3, boys varsity finished 30-5, and boys JV finished 33-2.