WH bowling teams ‘chugging right along’ in second seasons

Last season was a bit of trial and error for the West Holmes bowling program.

The boys and girls teams were both in their inaugural seasons, so learning on the fly was a routine thing for them.

Now in their second seasons, things have gone much smoother this year for both teams.

“Last year we were kind of figuring everything out,” Knights coach Chris Young said. “This year we had everything down pretty well. Everything ran really smoothly. Not really so many bumps in the road as last year. We’re just chugging right along.”

West Holmes’ bowlers went through an adjustment period last season. They had to get used to competing against other schools in matches and tournaments while learning the rules that come with that.

Several letter winners returned from last season’s teams, so both teams have made progress from last year in the win column and with their approach to matches and tournaments.

“Both teams this year have really calmed down a lot,” Young said. “We got the first-year jitters out and everything like that. It’s just getting over that kind of anticipation, so to speak, or anxiety that just kind of messes with you a little bit (before a match or tournament).

“We had a lot of returning members from last year. They all clicked well, and we got their orders figured out with how they work the best together, and we kind of just went with that.”

Both teams competed at the Ohio Cardinal Conference Championships at Lex Lanes on Feb. 3. Neither team advanced to the knockout round, with the girls finishing fifth in qualifying and the boys sixth.

The girls team finished third in the final team standings, thanks in large part to its 9-3 record in OCC regular-season matches. Hailee North earned All-OCC first-team honors, finishing with the fourth-highest average (182) of all conference bowlers. Aubree Young ended with a 145.1 average to earn honorable mention accolades.

The boys team finished sixth in the final team standings, which factored in its 6-6 mark in conference matches. Jesse Hickman rolled the fifth-highest series (661) of all bowlers during the qualifying portion of the conference tournament.

With the postseason right around the corner, coach Young said his bowlers are ready to make some noise at their sectional tournaments. The boys will compete at the Division II St. Clair Lanes Sectional on Feb. 13 while the girls will compete at the Div. II Boulevard Lanes Sectional on Feb. 14.

“I think we’ve got a pretty good chance. If we can’t make it as a team to districts, I think we got a couple of boys and girls that might be able to place for individual play for districts,” he said. “We’ll just have to see how it goes.”