Throughout the regular season, the Norwin boys bowling team established itself as one of the top teams in the WPIBL.

After finishing 9-1 in East Division action, the Knights placed sixth at the WPIBL championships. Last weekend, the competition became even more intense, but the Norwin boys stepped up to the challenge and earned second place at the Western Pennsylvania Regional Bowling Championships.

The Knights were in first place after the first six games of the event, which earned them a direct trip to the finals. Gateway, which was the third place team after the first six games, defeated Woodland Hills and Greensburg Salem in the stepladder finals to set up the finals battle between the two schools.

Gateway managed to out-slug Norwin, 1,055 to 1,023, in the regional finals. Gateway and Norwin will advance to the state championships in Altoona on March 15. Also advancing in the boys division are Penn Hills, Ambridge, Woodland Hills and Greensburg Salem.

Rolling in the first six games for Norwin were Mike Simko (166, 231, 230, 157, 206, 171), Steven Romanchak (226, 188, 170, 174, 201, 149), Greg Monda (180, 195, 181, 181, 178, 178), Ray Traill (180, 166, 183, 176, 173, 173), Weston Strom (199, 154), Jon Stump (134, 146), Justin Fye (176) and Eric Roberts (151).

For their performances in the team tournament, Romanchak and Simko were selected to the All-Regional team.

In addition to the team competition, several Knights competed in the regional singles tournament, which included six games per bowler. The top six finishers advanced to the stepladder finals, and the top 12 qualified for the state championships.

Simko placed 18th (210, 174, 183, 167, 169, 209), Stump was 26th (170, 222, 185, 153, 187, 181), Traill placed 53rd (169, 137, 178, 178, 179, 156), Monda was 58th (129, 151, 156, 171, 207, 169) and Romanchak placed 67th (144, 184, 150, 140, 160, 171).

Representing the Lady Knights were Rychelle Moses, who was 14th (190, 169, 181, 178, 140, 178) and Tiffany Rudy, who placed 52nd (134, 139, 141, 177, 163, 187).

For a complete listing of all the events and scores from the regional championships, visit www.wpibl.org.