Division II Girls State Bowling: RV, Smith endure tough days
COLUMBUS — The Marion County girls left Friday's Division II girls bowling state tournament thinking a better day could have been experienced.
"I don't feel too hot about it," Ridgedale junior Aubrie Smith said after competing as an individual. "I didn't do too bad, but definitely personally, I could have done better."
The River Valley team was definitely thinking that Friday afternoon.
"It was heartbreaking to see the girls," RV coach Cheryl Manning said. "We come out the first game and thought we were doing pretty good, and it just went downhill from there."
With 16 teams competing at the state tourney, the Vikings could never get out of the basement in the standings during qualifying.
"It's heartbreaking for our two seniors," Manning continued. "I know the girls really tried, and they kept trying to keep their spirits up, but we kept getting one bad break after another. It wasn't working. It wasn't in the cards for us this year."
RV shot a 718 in the first of three qualifying games to start 16th, six pins behind Versailles, but went backward from there. The Vikings followed it up with a 694 and a 670 to post a 2,082, which was 190 pins behind New Bremen in 15th and well off the cutline.
The fortunes didn't change in the three Baker game qualifiers, shooting a 121-152-116 389. River Valley ended with a 2,471, which was 542 pins from advancing to the eight-team Baker playoff to determine the state champion.
"There were several times I had to pull them aside and have a little pep talk and explain that they're in the top 16 across the whole state of Ohio. Just the fact that we made it this far, they should be very proud of themselves," Manning said. "Usually it was enough to get them pumped up again and start cheering each other on. It took several pep talks today."
While the River Valley boys program went to back-to-back state tournaments to start this decade, this was the first time RV sent its girls team to state.
The coach's daughter, junior Alexis Manning, led the Vikes with a 246-183-143 572 series, but par for the day, that was heartbreaking, too. Manning, who was 15th as a freshman individual qualifier to make honorable mention All-Ohio in 2021, just missed repeating that feat on Friday, finishing 16th to miss All-Ohio by two pins and one spot.
Sophomore Laurie Ann Cox was 73rd with a 145-140-137 422, and senior Madisyn Schwartz was 74th with a 125-135-155 415. Others competing for RV were senior Kylie Pierce, junior Olivia Thorpe, junior Gabi Peak, junior Emma Crease and sophomore Amyah Labauve.
"The one thing they learned is you cannot get down on yourself even if you throw a bad shot," Cheryl Manning said.
The Vikings will undoubtedly miss Schwartz and Pierce, but they will return the bulk of the team next season and that has the coach excited. And besides making it to state for the first time, the Vikings won the Mid Ohio Athletic Conference regular season title and the league tournament crown, plus brought home a district runner-up trophy this season.
"They should be all right for next year when we get to this level," Cheryl Manning said. "Yes, I'm saying we're getting to this level next year, too, with my girls. I'm calling my shot right now. We're going to make it again next year."
As for Smith, her future is bright as well.
"I felt confident going into it to start with," she said. "I didn't start too hot with my first strike shot and then I found my line pretty quick."
She started with a respectable 174 and followed it up with a 223.
"We switched pairs. I was on a different set of lanes. I found my mark and it was working well with that pair," Smith said.
A switch back for the third game set her back. Smith rolled a 135 to settle for a 532 and 36th place.
"Most of the people on my pair were struggling in the third game," she said. "It seems like a lot of teams were struggling in the third game. It's just the way the shot was breaking down. It was really hard to find a mark. We were kind of stuck in over-under. No matter where you shot, it was coming up high or going flat."
Nevertheless, she enjoyed her first trip to state.
"We started doing the cha-cha slide together. It was definitely a great atmosphere to be in. It's definitely a big weekend in general because I have opening night with the musical at the Palace (also on Friday)," she said as she plays Patty Simcox in Grease. "It's a big weekend, so I'm just trying to soak in the moment."
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This article originally appeared on Marion Star: Division II Girls State Bowling: RV, Smith endure tough days
