Bowling Roundup: Curtis and W.F. West girls earn first-ever state championships
Almost ten years ago, Ryan Mapes hoisted up a bowling championship trophy he and his teammates won for Curtis High School at Bowlero South Seattle (then known as Acme Bowling).
On Saturday, Mapes and the squad he now coaches earned the Vikings their first ever WIAA 4A girls bowling state championship at the same venue.
Over the course of the two-day tournament, Curtis finished with a final pin score of 7,264. That includes the six games the team bowled Friday, and the 14 baker games they played Saturday.
“It’s been a long journey. We started our season on Halloween and it took off from there. We had three out of the seven girls (from) state last year return,” Mapes said. “It was one game at a time. We ended up taking third in our league.
“We played so many close games and through that, we learned how to win those close games. We took second in our league tournament… and then we went onto districts and took home the district trophy.”
There was some drama on the lanes heading into the final baker games. Not only was Curtis trailing Skyview by four pins entering their final frames, but they were also sharing those lanes with the Storm.
Whatever pressure existed was not felt by the Vikings as they bowled their best baker game of year. With a final baker score of 221-167, Curtis secured their championship.
“Skyview played lights out all the way through the first day and second day. Then we were on the same lanes as them, it just ended up that way,” Mapes said. “The lane assignments were given out before the tournament and it just so happened, we shared with the next best team. And that motivated us.”
Leading the way on the individual scoring for the Vikings was senior Sienna Stoner. Pulling her scores from the six games the team bowled on Friday, Stoner finished in second place with a pin total of 1,139. Ahead of her in first place was Kamiakin’s Hayden Bennett.
Stoner wasn’t the only Viking to place in the tournament, either. Junior Megan Lelli finished just six pins behind her teammate at 1,133, good enough to tie for third place along with Wenatchee’s Ava Porter.
In 22nd was senior Brenna Winders with a total of 948 pins.
The title for Curtis will really tie the trophy case together.
OTHER 4A SCHOOLS
Other SPSL schools represented at the state championship as well. South Kitsap finished in sixth place with a score of 6,525, Emerald Ridge came in seventh with 6,438, and in eighth was Graham-Kapowsin with 6,420.
The highest scoring non-Curtis Viking was the Wolves’ Ariana Conrad, placing eighth with an individual score of 1,035. Rounding out the top-10 was Olympia’s Laila Smith, finishing at 1,005 pins.
Abigail Schauer from South Kitsap had a strong showing with a score of 964 pins. Both Madilynn Pollock from Emerald Ridge and Kaitlyn Richards came one pin short of that mark and finished tied at 963.
3A SCHOOLS
Thomas Jefferson was the highest finisher for the 3A schools in third place overall, ending their tournament with 6,787 pins. They only trailed Evergreen, first place with 7,182 pins, and Kennewick (7,030) in second place.
Behind the Raiders were Spanaway Lake in fourth place with 6,771 pins, Central Kitsap in fifth with 6,474, Silas in sixth with 6,225, and in seventh was Capital with 6,159.
Tamia Yeager and Alaina Degenstein, both from Spanaway Lake, were the highest individuals to place in the 3A. Yeager’s 1,128 pins was good enough for third place overall, and Degenstein came in fourth with 1,086.
Shaynah-Ann Suzuki from River Ridge finished in seventh bowling a 1,041, while Alena McDugle from Thomas Jefferson bowled a 1,029.
Rounding out the top 20: bowlers such as Thomas Jefferson’s Samyia Gildon bowling a 982 in 12th place, Talia Gubbe of Capital bowling a 967, Kaydren Boyer from Timberline two pins behind that with a score of 965, and Silas’ Keira Frazier with a 944.
2A/1A SCHOOLS
Like Curtis, W.F. West celebrated their first state championship Saturday. They barely edged out second place Columbia River by a score of 7519-7504.
The 2A SPSL also had a strong showing. Steilacoom took fifth place scoring 6,300, Franklin Pierce scored 6,198 in their sixth place showing, and Washington came in seventh with a score of 5,918.
W.F. West’s Piper Chalmers was the top individual bowler, bringing that honor home for the Bearcats. She finished her day atop the leaderboard with 1,206 pins knocked down, 55 better than second place.
Black Hills’ Zoey Theophilus came away in seventh place with a score of 1,101. Franklin Pierce’s McKenna Oller finished 11th with 1,039, and W.F. West’s Savannah Hawkins and Tyran Ozretich came in 13th and 15th, respectively, to help bolster their title claim with scores of 1,033 and 1,019. Tumwater’s Hailey Hopkins was one pin behind Ozertich, at 1,018.
Rounding out the 2A/1A top-20 were a pair of Steilacoom bowlers in Ashley Charity and Emily Medina. They finished within one pin of each other at 932 and 931, respectively.