SOUTHERN PINES — For a final time this season, the Richmond Senior High School boys’ bowling team competed Friday.
Bowling in the Mid-South Conference championship tournament at the Sandhills Bowling Center, the Raiders just missed out on extending their postseason run.
Competing in both a team and an individual conference championship, Richmond placed fifth overall in the team event and didn’t have any of its bowlers qualify for the individual state championship.
“I’m proud of the guys for the way they came into the conference championship and bowled,” head coach Chris Larsen said. “We knew it would be a challenge to qualify for the state championship, and even though we came up just a little short, the guys put forth a strong effort.
“This was a season of growth for us,” he added. “We had a couple of returners with experience, but we really had to build the rest of the lineup around them. I know the guys are disappointed for not doing better, but from where we started to how we finished the season is something they should hold their heads high about.”
Entering as the No. 5 seed of the tournament, Richmond opened the team portion against No. 4 Hoke County High School. Bowling a best-of-three-game match, an early lead didn’t hold for the Raiders, who lost 2-1.
Richmond won the first game 149-148 thanks to a spare in the 10th frame by senior Azariah Daniel. Earlier in the game, senior Carter Visingard closed both of his frames with a pair of strikes and senior Tate Craven had two spares.
Senior Owen Hancock and sophomore Mason Tayler each had one spare to help the Raiders to the win.
However, Hoke County rallied to win the second and third games by scores of 168-137 and 162-158. Those two losses eliminated the Raiders from contention for both the conference crown and the state championship meet.
Visingard had another strike in the second game, while Craven, Daniel, Hancock and Taylor all bowled one spare.
With a chance to rally and win the third game, strikes by Craven and Daniel were followed by five total spares by the team. Richmond wasn’t able to pick up a closed 10th frame and lost by four pins.
Winning the conference tournament championship was Hoke County, which will be joined at the state championship meet by second-place Pinecrest High School and third-place Scotland High School.
In the individual tournament, all eight of Richmond’s bowlers rolled three games and tried to get the highest pin total possible.
Daniel rolled games of 148, 171 and 190 to lead the team with a final score of 509 pins. He missed the cut for the state championship by seven pins, finishing just outside the top 10.
Craven (499 pins) and Hancock (497 pins) were second and third for the team. Visingard finished with a score of 473 and Taylor rolled a 466.
Other bowlers competing for Richmond were senior Robert Monroe (356), freshman Trenton Woody (323) and freshman Nate Lampley.
“We had five seniors this year and both Azariah and Owen were four-year bowlers for us,” Larsen said. “We’ll miss their leadership at the back of our lineup and I know each of them wishes they could have knocked down a few more pins to qualify for states.
“Tate and Carter had great seasons this year as starters and they improved a lot,” he added. “Robert was a first-year bowler and I know he enjoyed it and got better, too. Hopefully this experience has taught everyone something, especially the younger guys who I hope to see return next season.”
Sports editor’s note: The Richmond Observer will publish an article of the girls’ team’s conference tournament when final results are available.
