Above, Eagles bowler Chloe Williams rolls a ball during a Dec. 20 match against Rancho High School at the Boulder Bowl. Right, Andrew Garner throws a strike for the varsity boys team during a Jan. 7 game against Eldorado High School at the Boulder Bowl. Photos by Jim Konst/special to view
Above, Eagles bowler Chloe Williams rolls a ball during a Dec. 20 match against Rancho High School at the Boulder Bowl. Right, Andrew Garner throws a strike for the varsity boys team during a Jan. 7 game against Eldorado High School at the Boulder Bowl. Photos by Jim Konst/special to view
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Second-year head bowling coach Rod Ball wasn't sure what to expect from the Boulder City High School bowling team this season.
He lost a number of his top bowlers from both the boys and girls teams to graduation last year, and has recruited a team of younger bowlers to work with this season.
"I'm very pleased with how well our bowling teams are progressing this year," Ball said. "The boys are definitely going to make it to the regionals in 2008, and may be able to progress beyond that. This is a much more stable team than last season, when we were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs. Our main problem is that we're a very young team, with no seniors. The girls are improving every match, but will have to wait until next year before they can achieve their playoff goals."
The boys have been a pleasant surprise, as they are currently in second place in the Northeast Section of the NIAA Class 4A Sunrise Division with 65 wins.
The girls team hasn't performed as well as the boys with only 12 wins, as they are still trying to come together as a team, and field a solid squad of successful bowlers.
"Our girls team just hasn't fared as well this year as I would have liked," Ball said.
The 2006-2007 Eagles boys bowling team carried a number of talented seniors, who missed moving past the first round of the playoffs by seven pins. They may have put too much pressure on themselves, and Ball feels that if they had bowled to their abilities and relaxed a little more, who knows how far they could have gone.
"If our boys can put it all together in the regionals they may be able to advance beyond the first two or three rounds of competition," Ball said. "We have one junior on the 2007-2008 squad, and a couple of freshmen and sophomores, and they are a much more stable team."
The Eagles bowling team has the same problem as the Boulder City swimming and tennis teams, in that there aren't enough Class 3A high schools in Southern Nevada that have bowling programs. The Boulder City keglers are then forced to compete against bowling teams from the much larger schools in the Class 4A Divisions.
The teams that the Eagles compete against in the Northeast Section of the Sunrise Division are: Chaparral, Eldorado, Valley, Rancho, Desert Pines, Las Vegas, Desert Pines and Canyon Springs.
The top four teams in the division this season are: Eldorado, Chaparral, Boulder City and Valley; and they are the four teams that are expected to qualify for the 2008 regional championships.
The varsity bowlers for the 2007-2008 Eagles boys team are: junior Sean Thompson, sophomores Thomas Barbee and Andrew Garner, and freshmen Ryan Warshefski and Nick Ressler.
On the girls side, the varsity bowlers for this season are: juniors Chloe Williams and Jeni Rodman, and sophomores Ariel Anders, Sandra Harper and Jennifer Shivers.
The other members of the 2007-2008 Eagles bowling team are: senior Sina Voigt, junior Shad Porter, sophomores Danielle Thompson and Dylan Martens, and freshman Sean Porter.
The captains for this year's Boulder City High School bowling team are Williams for the girls and Barbee for the boys.
Ball said he's enjoying coaching this year.
"This team practically runs itself," he said. "The kids know who's bowling well and who's not. They will suggest line-up changes based on who is hot at the time, and it makes my job that much easier. I love the honesty and reliability of this group of kids."
Because Boulder Bowl is located in Boulder City, the high school bowling team is able to have a home alley, and the other schools must travel here for away matches. This is a great advantage for the Eagle bowlers, because they can practice daily at Boulder Bowl to improve their scores.
The Boulder City High School boys bowling team is expected to qualify for the Boys Southern Regional Bowling Championships at the Orleans Bowling Center Monday through Jan. 31.
If they are successful in their battles against the Sunrise Division rivals, they will move on to the 2008 NIAA Class 4A Boys State Bowling Championships at the Orleans Bowling Center on Feb.1.
Regardless of this year's results, Ball is already looking to the future.
"With our young teams we should do really well next year," Ball said, "We just need to practice, practice, practice. Thomas Barbee is a credentialed coach, and has been working with the girls team. We just need to get the girls to develop their killer instinct, and not think of bowling season as just a time to socialize. We need to bowl to win."
The Lady Eagles bowling team will have to start their off-season practicing right away, and hopefully make a run for the division and state bowling championships in the 2008-2009 season.
"This is a much better team than the one I had last season," Ball said. "They are bowling better, work together well, and will hopefully rise to the occasion at the end of the season. We just need to keep our emotions in check, and bowl to our abilities."
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