ROCKINGHAM — The third winter sports program to be featured in our review of Richmond Senior High School’s 2025-26 athletic calendar is the bowling team.
In February, the Lady Raider bowling team made its way back to the state championship and finished the season ranked third in the state.
It was the second straight season the Lady Raiders and head coach Ashleigh Larsen finished third overall.
A season-high closing percentage helped the Lady Raiders qualify for the final round, which put them against Gray’s Creek High School in a four-team bowl off.
In addition to the team’s success, sophomore Kaylon Wynn placed ninth overall in the individual state championship tournament.
Reread the original article from the state championship from Feb. 15, 2026:
SOUTHERN PINES — Staking its claim as one of the top programs in the state, the Lady Raider bowling team secured its second top-three finish in as many seasons at the state championship meet Friday.
Just three days after finishing as the runner-up in their conference championship event, the Lady Raiders and head coach Ashleigh Larsen placed third overall in the 2025-26 state championship event held at the Sandhills Bowling Center.
Additionally, sophomore Kaylon Wynn placed in the individual state championship meet, finishing ninth overall.
One of 13 teams fighting for the crown, Richmond finished fourth in pool play to qualify for a four-team bowl-off. Each team rolled four games and used its total pin count to determine the top four programs which would enter the final round.
“The girls get all of the credit,” head coach Ashleigh Larsen said. “This has been a long season and each girl gave it 100% when it mattered today. We knew if we bowled well enough we could give ourselves a chance and that’s what happened.
“We were pretty consistent in our qualifying games and we felt confident heading into the bowl-off,” she continued. “Anything can happen when the stakes are high and we just left a few too many frames open. But I’m proud of the girls and I know placing third in the state is a big achievement for all of them.”
Season-high closing percentage helps Lady Raiders in qualifiers
Six Lady Raiders bowled in the Baker format in the four qualifying games – Wynn, seniors Skyler Collins and Jentry Denson, junior Jorja Moore, sophomore Sydney Barnes and freshman Ava Parks.
Richmond rolled game scores of 154, 140, 160 and 124 to finish with a final pin total of 578 pins. With a cushion of 31 pins over Pine Forest High School, the next closest team, the Lady Raiders locked in their spot as the No. 4 seed.
Joining Richmond in the bowl-off were No. 1 Grays Creek (656), No. 2 Lumberton (625) and No. 3 Cape Fear (583) high schools.
Carrying her momentum over from a strong performance at the conference championship, Denson was Richmond’s leading bowling in the qualifying games. Bowling at a 90% clip, she closed all but one of her 10 frames with three strikes and six spares.
Wynn had two strikes and five spares to go 7-for-9 (78%) and Barnes and Parks each closed half of her respective frames. Barnes had two strikes and two spares in her eight attempts, while Parks bowled one each in her four frames.
Moore went 3-for-8 in the qualifying games (38%) with two strikes and a helper, and Collins had a spare in her four chances.
The Lady Raiders totaled 10 strikes and 16 spares to help send them to the bowl-off and set a single-match season-high closing percentage of 60.5% when they closed 26-of-43 frames.
The team also combined for its highest four-game pin total this season (578) and highest average game score (144.5).
Early lead doesn’t hold in bowl off against Grays Creek
The No. 4 Lady Raiders gave No. 1 Grays Creek a run for its money in the semifinal round of the four-team bowl-off, but ultimately fell 2-1 in the best-of-three game series.
Richmond opened with a game one score of 174-145, but lost the next two games by scores of 128-170 and 127-144. The final pin count favored Grays Creek 459-429.
The Lady Raiders had eight strikes and 10 spares to end with a .485 closing percentage (16-for-33). Denson was again electric from the anchor spot, going 6-for-9 (67%) with four strikes and two spares.
Upping her game to lead the team, Moore closed five of her six frames with three strikes and two spares (83%). Wynn also had a .670 closing percentage (4-for-6) with a strike and three helpers.
Other closed frames for the Lady Raiders included two spares from Barnes and one spare from Parks. Richmond’s overall closing percentage between the qualifying match and against Grays Creek was 55.3% (42-for-76), a new season-high.
Richmond was crowned third overall as a result of having a higher pin count in its semifinal match than No. 2 Lumberton.
No. 3 Cape Fear defeated No. 1 Grays Creek in the championship match, upsetting Grays Creek’s chance at back-to-back state titles.
Wynn places 9th in individual state championship
Following the team event, four Lady Raiders tried their hand at winning the individual state championship title. Those bowlers were Barnes, Denson, Moore and Wynn.
Each Lady Raider bowled three complete games and used their pin total to determine the final standings.
Wynn led the way with a final pin count of 477 after rolling games of 148, 135 and 194. That was good enough to finish ninth overall.
Denson was Richmond’s second highest scorer with 411 pins. Her game scores were 111, 167 and 133.
Barnes, who was Richmond’s only returning state singles bowler from last season, used game scores of 136, 114 and 143 to finish with 393 pins. Moore, completing her first season, impressed with 353 pins and scores of 86, 149 and 118.
“It’s a great accomplishment for our program to also have four representatives in the singles championship,” Larsen said. “Kaylon caught fire in her third game and that really boosted her score and helped her place.
“I’m proud of all the girls for putting in the necessary work this season,” she closed. “I want to thank Demarcus Hough for spending a lot of time this season working with both teams and helping our bowlers better understand the game. This was an exciting way to end the season.”
The Lady Raiders finished the regular season 7-0 and had a 7-2 overall record (including the postseason). Richmond’s boys’ bowling team did not qualify for the state championship meet this season.
