On a cold and snowy morning last Saturday, the Seymour Owls varsity bowling traveled to Durbin Lanes in Lawrenceburg for their SEIC matches.
The South Eastern Indiana Conference High School Bowling includes varsity bowling teams representing Austin, Columbus North, Columbus East, Madison, Scottsburg/Grace Academy/Crothersville, South Ripley, Switzerland County and Seymour. The teams are made up of freshman through seniors and first-time bowlers through seasoned veterans.
The bowlers each bowled two games for a match. For each game, they bowled against the bowler across from them on the score sheet in the same position. They received one point if they beat the bowler in the same position, but it is also a team event where the total pin fall is used to determine the winner of the five-point bonus for total pin fall. The goal is to win as many points out of the 20 points possible. There are 10 points possible for each game.
Every pin fall mattered, every split and every missed pin you saw the flustered expression on their faces. But with every strike, every spare you saw the frustration go away.
The bowlers were creative, with some doing the wave when a team member bowling a strike or saying a rhythmic chant when they spare or strike. Others did little dances and some had looks of pure amazement and joy when they hit all 10 pins.
The Seymour boys varsity team bowled against Austin in match one and Scottsburg in match two. The Owls won 19.5 of 20 in match one and 18 of 20 in match two for a total 37.5 of 40 overall.
The boys team was represented by Enrique Morales, Alex Sturgill, Wyatt McKinney, Chase Burke, Dillan Cooper, Cohl Moore and Drew Knutson.
The boys had 67 bowlers in the varsity division. Seymour has 10 bowlers in this division.
Moore shot a single high game of 224 and a competition high series of 447. The boys hold a season high game score of 965 and a second-place season high series of 1687.
Joey Larison is in third place overall with a 182 average and Moore is in eighth with a 164 average.
The boys are tied with South Ripley and Madison for first place.
The Seymour girls varsity team bowled Madison in match one and Austin in match two. The Owls won 20 of 20 in match one and 19 of 20 in match two for a total of 39 of 40 overall.
The girls team is in first place for the conference by half of a point.
The Girls are represented by Kaylee Patton, Kylee Cooper, Hailey Burke, Serenity Lacey and Mallorie Misamore.
The girls had 42 bowlers in the varsity division. Seymour has seven bowlers in this division.
Patton shot a high game of 226 and a competition series of 396. Patton is in second place with a 161 average.
Cooper is in sixth with a 133 average, and Erika Corya is in seventh with a 126 average.
This Saturday, the Seymour varsity and junior varsity bowlers will travel to Greensburg to compete. The teams will begin to compete in what is called a Baker Game Format. The teams will bowl 10 games where five bowlers will bowl two frames each. For example, the first bowler will bowl frames one and six, the second will bowl frames two and seven, and so on. The points to be earned will be one point for each game and bonus points for high overall score.
If anyone would like more information about the Seymour bowling program or would like to support the bowlers, contact Eduard Sides at [email protected].