Every day after school, each member of the bowling team drives 15 minutes across town to Royal Crest Lanes and prepares to practice hitting targeted pins, spares and playing full games.

Senior Avery Allen, who has bowled for four years, says the sport is not a huge commitment, but still enjoys being on the team.

“It’s not a very demanding sport,” he said. “It’s pretty relaxed, laid-back and easy.”

The sport takes more skill and technique than senior Hailey Jump thought when she first began bowling this year.

“I’m learning things that I never thought bowlers had to worry about,” Jump said. “I just thought they chucked it down a lane with grace.”

After joining, junior Zach Lockwood says he notices more recognition for the team on the announcements and throughout the school.

“I notice it more now that I’m on the team, on the announcements but it’s not as big as other sports but you’d expect that,” Lockwood said. “Students do show up [to tournaments], but it’s kind of hard since [they’re] not at the school so I understand that.”

Bowling isn’t as physical of a sport for Jump; rather, success comes from within.

“I play softball and you need to be fit, fast, and your mental game needs to be on point,” Jump said. “But with bowling you only need to have confidence in yourself and trust that you are succeeding.”

This year, both varsity and junior varsity teams have had success and hope to continue with a run at state.

“As a team, we’ve taken first at all the meets except for our very first one,” Allen said. “We’ve got some really good guys and we have a really good shot at [state].”

After hearing about the team from other bowlers his sophomore year, Lockwood decided it was something he wanted to try and hasn’t looked back since.

“I heard about it from my friends and heard it was cool so I decided to join because my friends were on the team,” Lockwood said. “I’m very glad I joined, it’s been a lot of fun these last two years.”