For The Tribune

For the first time in the program’s history, the Trinity Lutheran bowling team conducted its own awards banquet.

The most valuable bowler for the Cougars was senior Joseph Snowden.

Snowden went to regional and missed going to semistate by five pins.

He finished sixth in the sectional and 12th in the regional, but only the top 11 advanced to semistate. His average was 192 with a record of 24-8 on the season.

He also took home the senior award and the Cougar Award.

The senior award goes to a senior who has bowled all four years through high school, and the Cougar Award goes to an athlete with a good attitude who shows up every day and helps his or her teammates.

“They are like a leader or a captain for their team, and they look for ways to help others,” Cougars head coach Gary Snowden said of the Cougar Award.

For the girls team, the Cougar Award went to sophomore Sarah Mehlek, who the coach said displayed a good leader’s attitude.

Junior Jessica Fleener had hardware to show for her efforts, too, as she won the girls most valuable bowler award, along with the most improved bowler award.

She had an average of 147 by the end of the season.

“It was a fun season, a lot of fun, and the coaches helped, and everyone had a great time,” Fleener said. “If we needed help with a new ball or needed help with our technique, they helped.”

Sophomore Dylan Baldwin received the most improved athlete award.

The most improved award goes to the athlete who improves their average the most from the beginning of the season to the end.

Gary Snowden was head coach of the bowlers, and his wife, Brenda, worked mostly with the girls team.

“We had a good season. We had a lot of freshmen who had never bowled before,” Gary Snowden said. “We started out with 21 bowlers and ended the season with 16. We try to give everyone an opportunity to bowl each time out.”