As the winter sports season begins to wind down, teams begin to shift their focus towards winning in the playoffs. This is no exception for the boys and girls bowling teams at Jonathan Alder as they began their playoff matches at High Performance Lanes in Columbus. In the regular season, the boys went 7-9 in CBC play and 7-10 overall, while the girls went an outstanding 12-4, good for 2nd place in the CBC Kenton Trail Division. 

On the boys side, they unfortunately were defeated in their sectional tournament on Saturday. During the season, they were led by senior Jacob Allen, junior Devon Whiting, and sophomore Drew Damron. Damron led the team with an average score of 214.9, while the team as a whole averaged a score of 183.8 over 39 games. Additionally, Damron’s performance as an individual was good enough to advance himself into the district tournament today. 

On the girls side, they are led by senior Danielle Phipps, senior Hailey Henderson, and junior Daisy Henderson. Phipps leads the team with an average score of 182.7, while the team averaged a score of 164.8 over 32 games. Last Wednesday, the girls did well enough to advance to the district tournament, as they finished fourth in the central sectional tournament. They are back at High Performance Lanes today for the central district tournament with hopes of advancing to the state tournament. Junior Jalyn Moore said about the opportunity to perform at this level, “It’s been great. It is my first year on varsity and I feel like we’ve gotten a lot better.”

Both the boys and girls have had a great season filled with a lot of hard work and fun memories. The future of the bowling program at Jonathan Alder is bright, as both teams are relatively young, with only six seniors between the two teams. Regardless of how the Pioneers perform in the tournament, they have accomplished a lot. Junior Daisy Henderson says, “I have liked it a lot. It’s been really fun with all of the tournaments. Overall, a great bonding experience.”