Alexandria's Poepping tops USBC leader board

• Poepping

Contributed photo Alexandria's Dennis Poepping posed in front of the leader board at the USBC Open Championships.

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Dennis Poepping of Alexandria came home from the United States Bowling Congress Open Championships in late March as the all-events leader from the Baton Rouge River Center in Louisiana.

Poepping finished the weekend with a 1,746 total, narrowly edging out Paul Schrubbe of Horicon, Wisconsin by four in all events. He helped his group with a 554 series in the team competition on March 23 before joining up with his brother Dale of Sauk Centre the next day in the doubles competition.

The Poepping brothers just missed the top-10 in doubles with a 1,111 as Dennis set an Open Championships career-high with a 643 series. That gave him a boost as he added a 549 in singles to wrap up his weekend.

Finding himself atop the leader board was a bit of a surprise for Poepping. He wasn’t paying much attention after the team competition. Once everything was said and done, he was told he better stick around because he had put himself in first place.

“I didn’t even realize it for one thing,” he said. “It runs through July, so I’m not going to win it, but it’s still kind of cool to be in first for a little bit.”

Poepping went to the Open Championships this year with his brother and three other friends who bowl with him at Lakeview Lanes in Osakis. They met up with five others from the Twin Cities area to make the trip. Poepping has bowled in the championships for 14 straight years.

“I felt more relaxed this year than probably other years,” he said. “I got some breaks too, and that always helps.”

Poepping wasn’t the only one from his group to finish near the top of the leader board. Lenny Boogaard, who held on to win the Classified Singles competition at the 2007 Open Championships, teamed up with Larry Sorenson and left in second place in Classified Doubles. Boogaard bowled a 621 series, while Sorenson added a 566. Their 1,187 was behind only Randy Tennant of Onida, South Dakota and Tim Luken of Gettysburg, South Dakota, who finished at 1,231.

Poepping needs to hold onto his all-events lead for quite a while if he is going to finish in first place when all is said and done. The Open Championships run from February 11 through July 9.

Follow #AlexMN @EchoPress Sports Reporter Eric Morken on Twitter at @echo_sports.

Tags: alexandria sports, sports, poepping, bowling