LAKEVILLE - The LaVille boys bowling team participated in the Michigan City Regional for the right to advance in the Indiana High School Bowling state tournament. Coach Kevin Kubsch's team put together seven games of 200 or more pins in the baker style team format to earn a runner-up finish and advance to the Fort Wayne Semi-State. "Just really proud of them," said Kubsch after watching his team miss first place by just over 100 total pins.  "We had guys up and down the lineup have some really great shots."We did have an off game in the third game, but everybody is going to have one of those.  The guys bounced back and really did some good things after that, though." Highland finished with 2,447 pins to take top team honors, while the Lancers were not far behind after collecting 2,354 pins to take second and Crown Point closed in third place with 2,344 pins.  Mishawaka and LaPorte finished in the top five as the Michigan City Regional will be represented by five teams at Thunderbowl #1 in the Fort Wayne Semi-State. Among others in the team portion will be Concord High School, which finished in first-place at the Fort Wayne Regional, along with Highland, Crown Point, Mishawaka and LaPorte out of Michigan City. On the individual side of the Michigan City Regional, it was LaVille's Ryan Carmichael that came away with the individual championship. Carmichael came away with a 257 to get things going in the three-game qualifying round. Then, in the second game, the Lancer freshman opened the middle set of the series with 10 straight strikes.   According to Carmichael, "Everyone started striking and it kind of caught on for me. Then I started and just kind of got into a groove.  I was at 10 strikes in a row, I missed left on my first shot in the 11th (frame) and left a 3-10 split.  I picked up the 3 but couldn't connect it with the 10.  I finished with a 287." The Lancer anchor during the baker style team event then finished with a 236 in the final game to finish with a 780 series. "I started pretty strong and didn't miss that much," Carmichael said when asked about how he felt things went in the 9 a.m. individual round.  "My mindset was right ... just started to strike and that helped boost that mindset even more."I lost my look a little bit there in the third game.  I missed once and shot a 236." Finishing as the number one seed at the end of the qualifying round, Carmichael earned the #1 seed in the step-ladder finals.  That meant that Carmichael was awaiting a winner from Highland's David Price, Lake Central's Zach Camp and Crown Point's Tyler Sheets. During the wait as the top seed in step-ladder finals, Carmichael said that he, "stayed warm off to the side and tested some things out." In the championship match, Carmichael pointed out that "(that finals match) was good ... I did the same thing I did earlier ...I started with strikes -  I threw the first three then had two spares in row and still was able to shoot around that 230. "When asked about earning the regional individual champion, Carmichael said,  "It felt great. The amount of work I put in ... the practices, the things I am able to work on and I put a lot of work in and it felt like my work was rewarded." Carmichael admitted that he spends a lot of time working on his craft. "Normally I am in a league but I have to roll off of that because I am in more tournaments," the Lancer freshman said. "But that is a good thing." With the semi-state bowling event being held at the Thunderbowl #1, Carmichael admits that he just, "bowled there about three months ago .. I've been there but the patterns are different.  It is the same atmosphere, just different patterns when you bowl there." As he prepares for the individual semi-state round, he says that he continues, "Working on my spares and keeping myself sharp." When asked what he thought would be a score to shoot for and advance to the state finals, Carmichael paused, then said,  "I think I'll need somewhere around 540 for three games to advance." Also advancing for the Lancers in the individual session are Andrew Wolford and Lexi Huff.  Wolford finished in eighth place overall and among the top 13 boys to advance to the semi-state. Huff closed out in third place, just 19 pins off a second place finish among the nine bowlers to move on to the semi-state level. The individual semi-state qualifying round will begin at 9 a.m. ET and the team round starts at 2 p.m. ET.