Every team in sports goes through a period of success and then a period of rebuilding.
The Seymour Owls bowling teams are no exception. The Owls had 10 seniors — eight boys and two girls — graduate in this spring.
By the end of the season, the coaches were keeping their fingers crossed that the middle school bowling program that runs after the high school season would help fill the void that was now looming. And it did.
The middle school bowling program at Seymour yielded 13 freshman bowlers to add to this year’s varsity and junior varsity squads. Overall, Indiana will have more than 2,100 high school bowlers for this season. Last season, there were just 1,000 bowlers total across the state.
The Seymour girls varsity will have senior Kaylee Patton anchoring the team with three other returning bowlers — juniors Kylee Cooper and Hailey Burke and sophomore Mallorie Misamore.
The remainder of the girls varsity and junior varsity bowling team rosters will be filled by plenty of newcomers. They include freshmen Bridget Deaton, Bethany Leland, Kylee Morris, Miley Perry, Salisha Roberson and Arianna Sides and sophomore Shaylynne Canfield.
For the boys, sophomore Cohl Moore will now be joined by freshman Oliver Lanam. Moore was the lone freshman on the varsity team last season.
The two bowlers have bowled against each other in some very dramatic matches. But now, they will be the anchors for the Owls boys varsity team.
The rest of the boys varsity and junior varsity rosters will be filled by freshmen Alex Foster, Brenden Holliday, Jordan Ritchie, Keith Sinkhorn, Cohen Tedrow and George Walls; sophomores Dakota Cooper, Abram Goldsberry and Sterdy Verdieu; junior Kaden Greathouse; and seniors Drew Knutson and Gary Lee.
The Owls bowling teams will begin the season Saturday. The first matchup is at Scottsburg Bowling Lanes.
The boys will compete in baker game format at 2 p.m. vs. the team at-large. The format calls for the teams to 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.
Due to an odd number of teams — nine — in the Southeastern Indiana Conference, Seymour will draw a team to compete against using their scores from the day.
The varsity girls will bowl in a singles match against Madison at 2 p.m.. Then at 4 p.m. they will bowl a 10-game baker game against South Ripley.
The boys will be back in action at 5:30 p.m. Oct. 18 competing in singles matches against Scottsburg. The Owls junior varsity boys and girls teams also will bowl at 5:30 p.m. that day at Scottsburg.
The conference will have around 200 bowlers in the varsity and junior varsity programs this year. The matches will be held at centers within each team’s area with Scottsburg Bowling Lanes hosting Seymour, Scottsburg, Austin and Grace Christian.