After a strong finish last season, the Herrin Girls Bowling Team had a lot of confidence going into the next season.
With a quick start into the season, the Girl’s Bowling Team only lost one of their twelve matches this season, an incredible record going into the post-season.
Faith Perry (12) noted how “one of [her] favorite moments was getting [her] highest game ever at Carterville”.
The Girls Bowling Team also had multiple tournaments this year including their first tournament along with the Boys Bowling Team. The girls took home a solid 4th place as a team, but when combined with the boy’s team, they earned a Runner-Up Grand Champion overall.
The girls also placed 5th at the Herrin Invitational after a hard day of bowling at their home lanes.
Paisley Vorhees (11) noted how the team was “filled with lots of good energy” and a “good fight” was put up during the entire season, including match play and tournaments.
The last tournament before the post-season was the Carterville Invitational on the same lanes they would compete on for Regionals and Sectionals. After competing all day and getting to 4th place, the girl’s team sadly lost in the first round of match play.
However, they did not forget the previous 4th place finish going into Regionals.
Delaney Restivo (11) was “pretty confident in [their] abilities, because [they] were thriving at practice”.
Regionals were finally their time to shine. With a strong start after the first half, the girls were ready to face their next challenge of ending the day in first place. With a long and hard fight, the girls managed to take home another Regionals title, making them back-to-back champions.
The Herrin Girls Bowling team even secured the top three placements with Sidnee Nelson (10), Faith Perry (12), and Mads LaBotte (12) taking first, second, and third respectively.
Some personal victories were also met. Freshman Avery Fish (9) not only had her first Regional win but also had “her first 200 game” which pushed the team even more towards their victory.
After a strong finish the week before, everyone was in high spirits for the next week going into Sectionals.
Mads LaBotte (12) was “incredibly proud of [their] finish from the week before” and “expected great things” for the following week.
However, after a long day of fighting, the girl’s team finished in 7th place overall. However, Nelson finished as one of the top five individuals not on a qualifying team, gaining a spot at the State tournament.
Leading up to the State tournament, Nelson mentioned how different it was to “practice by [herself] the week of and an hour of practice the day before the tournament”, a completely new feeling from State in 8th grade.
After games and hours of hard work, Sidnee jumped from 36th to her finishing place of 19th out of over 150 girls at the State tournament alone. Not only has she accomplished this amazing feat as a sophomore, she has multiple years ahead of her to continue her bowling journey along with the rest of the team.
Nelson plans to “practice a lot more over the summer” and use the season practices along with her team to practice “things [she] needs”.
While the Girls Bowling Team fell short during Sectionals, their season still has had many great accomplishments and has lots of talent going into their future.
