The Glen Este girls’ bowling team will bear the hopes of Clermont County on their shoulders when they head to Eastern Lanes in Middletown on Saturday, Feb. 25 for the district tournament.
The Lady Trojans were the only team in the area to make it out of the sectional qualifying.
“My hopes were up, but I wanted to be realistic,” Glen Este coach Kathy Demarko said. “I figured the boys would move on and was shocked when they didn’t, so I didn’t want to get my hopes up too high for Friday.”
The Glen Este boys, competing out of Crossgate Lanes, were the first team to miss out on the district tournament as a team, coming up 20 pins behind fifth-place Wilmington.
To add insult to injury, Glen Este was unable to get any boys to qualify as individuals. With only five individuals from non-qualifying teams advancing to districts, Glen Este’s Blake Huber finished sixth, just 15 pins out of fifth place.
The sectional tournament took place over two days with the boys competing on Wednesday, Feb. 15 and the girls bowling on Friday, Feb. 17.
Along with Glen Este’s teams, Milford and Goshen also were present in the sectional tournament.
The Warriors bowled both teams out of Crossgate Lanes, as did Glen Este, but Milford was split between Colerain Bowl for the boys and Crossgate for the girls.
The Milford boys finished 11th in the sectional with Kyle Chance as the highest finishing individual, 16 pins out of the last qualifying spot.
“Overall, being a young team with only one senior, we did as well as we could have expected,” Milford coach Frank Ritzmann said of his boys’ team. “We bowled well in the Baker games, but came up a little short of our average in the single games.”
The Milford girls finished in ninth place as a team and Delaney Ward was their highest finishing individual, 49 pins out of the last individual qualifying position.
Goshen coach Shirley Reynolds believed that the magnitude of the moment may have gotten to her team during the tournament as her boys finished 15th as a team.
“Most of my group is coming back next year, so I think it was a good learning experience for the kids,” she said. “By going to big tournament like sectionals, they were able to see how their nerves can affect them and they should be better for it next year.”
The Goshen girls finished 12th as a team at their sectional, led by Yanisha Robbins individual score of 411, 84 pins back of the last qualifying spot.
Heading up to Eastern Lanes, the Glen Este Lady Trojans have a tall task ahead of them, but with the resolve they showed on Friday, Demarko believes they can turn some heads if her team brings their “A” game.
“We had a little trouble getting off to a good start in the individual games,” Demarko said. “Leading off is a lot of pressure and my girls were having a tough time picking up their spares. No one got down, no one gave up and the key to success is having a level head.
“I always tell the girls it doesn’t matter if you come in first or if you come in fifth because the next week it doesn’t make a difference.
“We were able to put Gabby (Ruehlman) up there (in the first spot) in the third game and she propelled us into the top five.”
Demarko believes going up to Eastern will be a good experience for Glen Este, especially with such a young core of talent. The level of competition is much higher once you get the schools from up around Dayton, Demarko explained, but if the Lady Trojans bring their best stuff, Demarko believes they could advance up to state.
“I’d be willing to bet that your state champion comes out of Eastern,” she said.
Even if the team is unable to qualify, the individuals still have a chance to move on by themselves and if that is to happen, they will have the rest of their team cheering them on at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl on March 3.
