‘Super impressive.’ Kennewick, Kamiakin students dominate WA state bowling
Maybe there is something in the water, especially in Kennewick.
Maybe it was just magic. How else to explain that not only did Kennewick win a 3A girls team state bowling title last weekend, but Kamiakin rallying to win the 4A team championship too?
If you ask Tom Richardson or Scott Biglin what the secret was, they’ll both have the same answer: a strong junior program in the Tri-Cities.
Whatever it was, both teams definitely seemed to know what they were doing at the WIAA state championships in Tukwila.
On Saturday, Kennewick ran away (or better, rolled away?) with the 3A team title easily, knocking down 7,784 pins.
Spanaway Lake was a distant second at 7,328, while Thomas Jefferson finished third at 7,029.
The Lions never seemed to be pushed after day one on Friday, and they just had to execute over the 14 Baker Games they had to roll to clinch the crown.
Richardson, Kennewick’s coach, watched his team drop 136 pins after four Baker games.
“Our lead went from 363 pins down to 230 pins at one point,” said Richardson. “I took the girls aside, and got them going again. The 199 they rolled in Game 13 got them comfortable.”
And the 236 the Lions had on the 14th and final Baker game gave them back their cushion.
In Friday’s individual competition, Kennewick had four of the top seven bowlers in the final standings.
Lexis McGarrity placed second for the Lions, knocking down 1,187 pins over six games for a 197 average.
Only Spanaway Lake’s Tamia Yeager was better, with 1,256 pins.
Other top placers for Kennewick were: Kourtnie Foss (who is headed to Missouri Baptist in the fall to bowl collegiately), placing fourth at 1,115 pins; Samantha McMaster was sixth at 1,083; and Calista Tippett, placing seventh at 1,077.
“That was super impressive,” said Richardson. “I don’t know if I’ve ever seen that before — having four of the top seven bowlers.”
Clida Bleichner-Ramos was Kennewick’s fifth bowler, and she placed 26th overall with 938 pins.
Anna Hardin and Melissa Mendoza Gutierrez were other members of Kennewick’s team attending the event.
Other area bowlers in the 3A tournament were Southridge’s Sydney Golden at 33rd with 896 pins; Walla Walla’s Amelia Hubbard at 46th with 846 pins; and Hermiston’s Emily Jemmett in 59th with 791 pins.
There were 75 bowlers in the 3A tournament who rolled all six games.
Now, if this wasn’t all good enough — Kennewick dominated all season long in the Mid-Columbia Conference, going 14-0 in matches — Kamiakin showed it could bowl as a team under pressure.
The Braves rallied to win the 4A state team title on Friday by coming through clutch in the late Baker games.
Remember, Baker games are played when each team’s bowler takes their turn in rolling a frame. Not easy to put together a good score in these.
The Braves headed into Friday morning’s competition with a 42-pin lead after the six individual games that were rolled on Thursday.
But there were still 14 Bakers games to be rolled on Friday. There can be pressure.
“Each bowler gets two frames,” said Biglin. “You just make sure you’re not the one that gets the open frame. Bakers can kind of make or break you. Our goal this season was to average a 170 and have no more than three open frames in any game.”
So Kamiakin promptly lost its lead after the first two Baker games on Friday, and the Braves had to rally at the end to retake the lead for the state title.
“Our first three Bakers were not good at all,” admitted Biglin. “Our lanes were playing extremely difficult. They felt like they had a lot more oil on them. We had to do a lot of adjusting.”
Still, Kamiakin still had a shot to win at Game 13.
Heading into Baker game 13, Emerald Ridge held a 42-pin advantage. The Jaguars had 6,763 pins, to Kamiakin’s 6,721.
The Braves rolled a 186 game, while the Jaguars had a 147. That cut the Emerald Ridge lead to just 3 pins (6,910 to 6,907) heading into the final Baker game.
That’s when Biglin’s team came up with its best Baker game of the day, a 203. Emerald Ridge could only respond with a 137 — giving Kamiakin the title.
“I told our first bowler of that game, Alyssa (Martinez), ‘If you throw a strike, go absolutely bonkers.’”
She did. It worked, as the Braves stepped up in the final game while using a little gamesmanship to put pressure on the opponents.
Kamiakin team members are Lilliana Martinez, Quinn Shaner, Alyssa Martinez, Clara Demarest and Grace Hubbert — with alternates Meredith Stavenger and Adalia Rivera.
For Kennewick, it was pretty much a perfect season. The Lions went 14-0 in Mid-Columbia Conference play, dominated at the district tournament, and then blasted away the state competition for a 3A state title after placing second the past two years.
“The girls were open and receptive to doing new things, whether it was a different approach or trying a new ball,” said Richardson. “Sometimes it didn’t work. But they were open to trying it. And there was no drama. It was a great, fun season. I’ve been a coach here since 2006, and we have had four second-place finishes. I cried my eyes out (after Saturday’s title). We did not stumble once this season.”
Both Richardson and Biglin give a lot of credit to the local junior bowling program.
“It’s a community thing,” said Richardson, who loves bowling so much he has his own shop at home and drills bowling balls for free for not only his players, but other area high school bowlers. “We’ve got two great junior programs around here, one at Spare Time Lanes in Kennewick and the other at Atomic Lanes in Richland. These girls bowl in both leagues. Richland’s Ali Lemieux (who placed second as an individual at the 4A state tournament) bowls in the Saturday junior league at Atomic.”
The programs that consistently do well at state — the Tri-City schools, Evergreen in Vancouver, and the 1A and 2A schools in the Longview area — all have junior programs in common, adds Richardson.
“Kudos to our junior program directors, Robin Headley (Atomic) and Alan Cook (Spare Time) for what they do,” said Richardson.
Biglin agrees.
“Our girls our constantly bowling,” he said. “We have 18 girls in our program. Six or seven of our girls bowl in the junior program. I believe that many of the Chiawana bowlers also bowl over in Kennewick.”
This was the third state title for Kamiakin’s bowling program. Hayden Bennett, who graduated in 2023, is now bowling at Saint Francis College in Pennsylvania. She was the individual 4A state champion in both 2022 and 2023.
“Hayden was a junior bowler too,” said Biglin. “When she was a freshman for us, she could barely get to 110.”
The Tri-City bowling community can take some pride in these team state titles.
Jeff Morrow is former sports editor for the Tri-City Herald.
