McCann Tech, Wahconah Athletes Recognized

They don’t run fan buses to the State Alpine Championships. And they don’t charge you $10 a head to see the State Bowling Championships.

 

But even though hoops hogs the limelight -- especially during Cage week -- there were plenty of non-basketball players from Berkshire County performing at the highest levels of their respective sports this week.

 

On Tuesday at Wachusett Mountain, Wahconah’s Tanner Hill captured the state slalom title and led his team to a 10th place finish in the commonwealth.

 

Hill stormed down the hill in 39.10 seconds to win the morning’s slalom and then finished fourth in the state in the giant slalom competition in the afternoon.

 

On Saturday, McCann Tech’s Kalley Vanuni came up with some big strikes in Baker format matches to help lift the Hornets to a state championship at their home lanes in North Adams.

 

McCann kept the state title in Berkshire County while ending a five-year reign by crosstown rival Drury.

 

With games of 165 and 163 in the tournament’s first two rounds, Vanuni was not the Hornets’ top bowler; that honor belonged to Brandon Valone, who went 215-163.

 

But Vanuni, who was the fifth-best girl in the Berkshire County League this winter, was clutch in McCann’s Baker format games, where teams of five bowlers alternate frames, bowling two frames each over the course of a game.

 

Based on that, she was named the MVP of the team competition.

 

“She deserves it,” McCann teammate Brandon Vallone said of the honor. “She's had a great season.”

 

iBerkshires.com's Athlete of the Week is sponsored by Jiminy Peak.