This was not the best season that the LHS bowling team has had, with ending scores of 3-10 for the boys and 1-7 for the girls, but there still were great moments that shone through. Like LHS seniors Benicio Saldierna with a high game of 277 and Tyler Olson raising his average to 211.3.

Olson has been bowling at LHS for three years. He ended his final high school season in third place with 222.5 in the Ohio Capitol Conference. He was also featured as Fairfield Medical Center Athlete of the week.

“I finally found my groove and improved a lot since my other years,”

“I will miss how much fun we had as a team.  We tried our best to compete and even the times we didn’t win we can all collectively say we tried. The team has changed my outlook on a lot and for that I’m grateful,”  Olson said.

Coach Wendy Russell, who has been coaching at LHS for twenty years, said that she has enjoyed knowing that she has made a difference in students’ lives.

“Coaching is a very rewarding experience. I enjoy watching the kids that I coach continue to bowl as adults and achieve their own goals,” said Russell.

Like all teams at some point, LHS’s bowling team faced some challenges. Both varsity teams were made of new or formerly JV bowlers and there were only two returning players for the girls’ team. But despite that fact, even after losing 4 players throughout the season they have greatly bonded and improved despite setbacks.

“The challenge comes when you are trying to quickly advance the skill set of bowlers in a very short window of time,” stated Russell.

This was LHS senior Brianna Kemp’s first time bowling but, with a high score of 186, she didn’t let that stop her. Kemp said that she had fun on the team and will never forget how the team was like a family to her.

“The thing that I will always remember about bowling in high school is that no matter how hard my day was I would always be ready to go bowling because when I show up to bowling, everything goes away and I have so much fun spending time with the team,” she said.

Another first-time bowler, sophomore Sketch Baltz said that their goals are to improve for next season and have more fun with the team.

“Team dynamics are very important, having good humor and good friendships can impact how you do, at least for me personally,” said Baltz.

Between now and winter, the teams’ goal is to improve and advance their bowling skills for next season. Some personal goals for players are consistency, raising scores, a more positive mindset, and picking up spares.

As a freshman, Colton Pollock spent most of his season playing on varsity. He said he had a lot of fun on the team and learned valuable skills from his upperclassmen and coach.

“The seniors and the coach of the team helped me a lot by correcting my form and it increased my score a lot… Sometimes I bowl high games and then the next game I do pretty badly, so I just want to bowl consistently,” Pollock stated.