SHALLOTTE — Concluding their best respective seasons in their five-year history, the Richmond Senior High School boys’ and girls’ bowling programs impressed at Friday’s state championship meet.
The Lady Raiders finished as the state runner-up to champion Jack Britt High School, while the boys took third overall at Planet Fun.
Richmond also had three individual bowlers finish in the top 10, earning them All-State recognition. They were senior Colin Wheeler and juniors Addison Massey and Cadence Thompson.
“The boys and the girls both were just outstanding,” head coach Ralph Butler said. “We did the team event first. They bowled four games to determine the top four pin totals for the single elimination roll-off.
“After those four matches, both the boys and girls earned the No. 1 seed for the roll-off,” he continued. “It was the first appearance for either the boys or girls in the roll-off for the state championship.”
Bowling four games to determine the seeding, the Raiders finished with scores of 189, 184, 131 and 189 to finish with a total of 693 pins. Using the Baker format, Butler used Alston Johnson, Dexter Maber, Wheeler, William White and Cameron Way.
As a team in those four games, the Raiders collected 16 strikes and 19 spares.
For the Lady Raiders, it was Massey, Thompson, Molly Erwin, Rylie Bohman, Ashlyn Bouldin and Ava Thompson who helped secure the top seed.
The girls rolled game scores of 143, 119, 155 and 119 to collect a pin total of 536. As a team, the Lady Raiders had 9 strikes and 13 spares.
After clinching the No. 1 seed, the Raiders and Lady Raiders both bowled against rival No. 4 Scotland High School in the state semifinals match, which followed a single-elimination format.
The Lady Raiders earned their fourth win of the season over the Lady Scots, edging them by one pin 125-124.
Bouldin led the way with two strikes in her two frames, Erwin added a spare and Cadence Thompson secured the win with a strike in the 10th frame and picked up nine more pins.
“The girls had another great match with Scotland,” Butler said. “Scotland had a 124-123 lead with one throw left from Cadence Thompson, who had three pins standing. She needed two and got them to win 125-124.”
In the state championship contest, the Lady Raiders fell to Jack Britt 145-11. Butler noted the team “struggled to pick up some spares.”
Cadence Thompson had a strike and a spare in the anchor spot, while Erwin had one strike and Ava Thompson added one spare.
The Raiders finished 3rd overall and senior Colin Wheeler (with trophy) took 5th in the singles championship. (Contributed photo)
In the Raiders’ match against Scotland, they lost 218-151. Butler said “the boys had some lane trouble and it took them a bit to get it fixed and it just threw them off a little.”
Johnson and Way each bowled a strike and a spare in the semis loss, while Wheeler bowled a strike.
Scotland earned the state championship title by defeating South View High School in the finals.
Following the team competition, Wheeler, Erwin, Massey and Cadence Thomspon competed in the singles championship. All four qualified by earning a top 10 finish at last week’s Sandhills Athletic Conference championship.
Bowling three games each, Wheeler earned fifth overall with a combined score of 581 pins. He had two games over the 200-pin mark and missed the championship roll-off by just 18 pins.
Cadence Thompson and Massey earned ninth and 10th place, respectively. Thompson finished with a three-game score of 421 pins, while Massey was behind her with 403 pins.
Erwin took 19th overall with a combined score of 355 pins.
“Colin bowled outstanding and just missed the roll-off,” Butler said. “He ends his Richmond career with an all-conference and all-state selection. He should be extremely proud of that accomplishment.
“Cadence and Addison both finished their junior season as all-conference and all-state selections. I look forward to seeing what they can accomplish next year as seniors.”
