Evergreen’s Andersen finishes strong, claims second 3A state girls bowling championship

Evergreen of Vancouver’s Kerissa Andersen found it tough to swallow at lunchtime Thursday afternoon.

The food was fine — but her slim lead at the Class 3A state girls bowling tournament felt like a mouth full of sand.

Andersen made sure to change that quickly. The Plainsmen senior rolled final games of 224, 235 and 216 to blow away the field, and reclaim the 3A title at Narrows Plaza Bowl in University Place.

Her six-game total was 1,271 pins, a new personal record. Teammate Dakota O’Neil was second at 1,169, and Lakes junior Nikita Benton was third at 1,155.

It was Andersen’s second state championship. She won the 3A title in 2017. Her worst finish in her four seasons of bowling was 11th as a ninth grader in 2016.

“This means a lot,” Andersen said. “I just wanted to run away with it.”

And with 5,489 pins through six individual games, the two-time defending state champions Plainsmen are close to running away with a three-peat. Prairie is second with 5,154, followed by Bethel (4,897) and West Central District winner Wilson (4,894).

But at the midway point Thursday, Andersen had a five-pin lead over Benton, a new face to high school bowling, but a veteran out on the USBC youth all-star circuit.

“I knew Nikita was pretty close to me,” Andersen said. “I didn’t want to be up by five (pins). I wanted to be up by 100 and have a little cushion.”

Andersen went on a strike-scoring streak to eventually lead by 90 pins after Benton struggled with a 165 in the fifth game.

Benton has had a tough journey in joining the Lancers squad, starting with a horrific car accident before her ninth grade year that kept her out of out-of-season bowling for months.

But Benton attended the WIAA event last season, and felt so much energy among the teams that she decided to represent Lakes in 2018-19.

“I have been on a team before with the same dynamic on the USBC all-stars,” Benton said. “It is my favorite time of year. I loved it.”

Yelm’s Bethany Place was the area’s next-highest finisher in sixth at 1,069 pins.

“Top 10 was my goal,” Place said. “I went over my average, and I am proud of that.”

Bethel’s Ashley Nelson, the Braves’ fourth-year senior on the squad, finished a career-best seventh at 1,067 for her first podium finish.

“I honestly did struggle a little bit, but I bowled as best as I could,” Nelson said. “I am proud of what I did today.”

Wilson and Bethel, the top two teams from the 3A PCL, have a tall task Friday if they want to chase down Prairie for second place in 14 Baker games.

“You can catch them, but Prairie will have to bowl poorly,” Wilson coach Ken Richardson said. “That is all we are going to try and do, and catch the team in second.”