Bowling is a sport that can easily be overlooked for its well known recreational aspect, but the sport of bowling goes deeper than that. MHS definitely empowers bowlers and their passion for the sport. So much so that they set goals at the beginning of the season, and the coaches enforce continuous work to make those a reality. The coaches of the MHS bowling program are Muscatine High School’s Athletic Secretary, Mindy Stotlzfus, and Muscatine School District Teacher, Triscia Laucamp.
“We have had a really successful season this year, with a really fun team that created a strong and successful bond over the season,” said Mindy Stotlzfus (girl’s coach).
On February 12th and 13th the MHS girls and boys varsity bowling teams got to bowl in their conference’s regional tournament. This tournament is a state qualifying tournament for all varsity bowling teams in Muscatine’s conference. The regional tournament was held at Rose Bowl here in Muscatine.
“Regionals went smoothly, we did not accomplish our state goals with the girls team. But we qualified first for state for boys,” said Mindy Stotlzfus.
Several individual bowlers also qualified. These individuals were Genna Evans, 12, and Zara Stotlzfus, 11, from the girls varsity team, and Elijah Donath, 11, from the boys varsity team.
Bowling may be seen as a more recreational individual sport to the untrained eye. But for the high school bowling program, teamwork makes the dreamwork. For most professional bowling associations “baker’s games” are used for team scoring. Baker’s games include five different bowlers each bowling two frames of each game, it is a general rule to put your best bowler last in the “anchor position” meaning they bowl the fifth and tenth frame.
The Iowa High School Bowling Association State Tournament is held at Cadillac Lanes in Waterloo, IA, and consists of a team aspect and an individual tournament including normal and Baker’s games. A state tournament can be challenging, as it contains the best of the best. Here at MHS, bowlers seem more fond of the team bonding at state than the tournament itself.
“State is hard, but I know all of the bowlers and coaches had a blast with team dinners and bonding activities at state. We definitely missed all of the bowlers who couldn’t attend,” said Stotlzfus.
The Muscatine boys varsity team ended up finishing second at state, becoming state runner ups! All individuals ended up finishing in the middle of the pack, which is very honorable in a tough state tournament. It is safe to say MHS’s bowling program had a successful season, with next seasons outcome looking bright.
“Bowling is such a fun and collaborative sport, most of these kids have known each other forever and love bowling. If bowling sounds fun to you at all please consider going out next year,”said Stotlzfus.
