This past Wednesday, Feb. 26, ten members of the Manual’s girls’ bowling team competed in the KHSAA Girl’s Team Bowling State Championships at Kingpin Lanes. The team consisted of Delaney Henon (9, J&C), Grayson Manning (11, HSU), Morgan White (12, HSU), Riley Roberts (12, J&C), Katie Dikes (12, J&C), Lily Kilgore (12, HSU), Riley Borders (12, HSU), Liv Kunkle (12, HSU), Jordyn Werner (12, J&C) and Grace Fridy (12, J&C).
Manual previously captured the girls’ team regional title, earning a spot at the state championships. Male, who were runner-ups at regionals, also advanced to state. The Lady Crimsons bowled two qualifying games of 511 and 545 for a total of 1056, earning the third seed out of sixteen.
In the first round, the Lady Crimsons came back to beat Boone County three baker games to two, after losing the first two baker games. Manual won 137-146, 124-135, 188-167, 165-158, 160-135.
In the quarterfinals, Manual beat McCracken County three baker games to two. They won the first game 189-127, narrowly lost the second two, 166-169 and 172-173, but won the next two baker games to advance to the next round 221-199 and 168-155.
They then advanced to the semifinals, during which they competed against Butler. The Lady Crimsons beat them three baker games to one. The scores were 176-153, 158-159, 179-105 and 201-154.
In the final round, Manual bowled against Graves County for the championship title. Unfortunately, they lost three baker games to one. They won the first game 175-140, but lost the next three 191-197, 144-177 and 135-172.
Though losing, this marks the first time the Manual girl’s bowling team has reached the final round of the state tournament since bowling was first sanctioned by the KHSAA in 2012.
“I’m just so proud of my team. A lot of us didn’t even start bowing until our sophomore and junior years and our competitors have been bowling their whole lives. I don’t think anybody thought we would ever make it this far,” Roberts said.
