Junior Bowler Teryn Turner slings a shot down the lane during the Tigers’ bowling practice last week at Tiger Lanes in Battle Ground.
High school bowling was the first winter sport to get under way last week and the Battle Ground Tigers are looking to rebuild after a district title and seventh place finish at the 4A state tournament last season.
“We’ve got really young players so we’ll have them back one or two more years,” said Harold Lynse, head coach of the Tigers for the last 12 years, after describing this season as a “rebuilding year.”
Lynse said for the first half of the year he’ll be putting a lot of work in with the junior varsity team to build good fundamentals among younger players before switching to high gear with the varsity midway through the season in preparation for a playoff run.
Darren Dyer, a senior who competed at state for the Tigers last year, said it's important that upperclassman, like herself, take the time to help rookie rollers develop like others did for her and her teammates.
Taking the time to help each other is part of the reason the Tigers have been successful and is what Dyer named as the main reason she stayed on the team after trying it as a sophomore.
Last year’s district title and seventh place finish was nothing out of the ordinary — Battle Ground bowlers are no strangers to success.
They’ve collected 4A state titles four years in a row — 2012-2015. In the last decade three individual state titles have gone to Tigers (Rachel Kreigbaum in 2007 and Wylicia Faley in 2012 and 2014). Last year they won the district championship before finishing seventh at state.
With a younger squad, another run at state might prove more challenging, but the Tigers have started out strong. In their first series of the season, they shot a 2010 in a win over Ridgefield on their home lanes at Tiger Bowl in Battle Ground. Lynse said 2010 is better than only one score they had all of last year.
In their second series of the year they lost to R.A. Long 1653 to 1777.
