Over the last two weeks, the boys’ bowling team has won their Regional tournament, placed third in Sectionals, and will be advancing to State. They bowled against Salem during the Regional match and won by 35 points. This allowed them to go on to Sectionals Jan. 20 where they qualified for State. State will be held Jan. 26 through 27 in O’Fallon.
Many of these bowlers placed high on the list during the Regional match. Junior Jonathan Carlton placed second, sophomore Caleb Gore placed fifth, senior Noah Arnold placed sixth, and freshman James Cranmore placed tenth.
“I knew we could make it past Regionals,” Gore said. “I knew that we had the potential to win Regionals but to actually do it is a different feeling, especially since it’s the first time Harrisburg has won a Regional, against Salem, the previous year’s champs.”
During the regional match, Carlton achieved his biggest accomplishment of the year. He’s now more focused on his team and having fun.
“I feel I did good during Regionals because I was more focused on just having fun and enjoying myself and being surrounded by the team,” Carlton said. “ My biggest accomplishment this year would be getting second in Regionals.”
This team has bonded over their time playing together according to senior Triton Kielhorn; this can be seen especially when they all come together and uplift each other during their matches.
“We have definitely come closer together as a team as the season went on, and I believe that we have made lasting friendships throughout the sport,” senior Triton Kielhorn said.
Becoming State qualifiers has these bowlers ready for the next matches to come. These boys have put in the work and are ready to see it all pay off.
“We have practiced and worked very hard to go as far as we could when it comes time for playoffs,” Arnold said.
High school sports can be time-consuming, especially with school and other practices going on. Making time to be a part of a winning team can be a lot for a high school student.
“My biggest accomplishment has been sticking with the sport and being able to deal with outside interferences,” Kielhorn said.
These freshmen through juniors will soon have to say goodbye to the seniors as this is their last year. The seniors help out some of these underclassmen according to freshman James Cranmore, and it may be challenging without them to help guide the younger bowlers.
“The seniors have helped me so much and them not being here next year will be hard,” Cranmore said.
In times like this when the team is succeeding words from upperclassmen can be very important. The seniors try to motivate the underclassman bowlers by giving words of advice.
“Practice as much as you can because there are other people out there practicing just as hard as you if not harder,” Arnold said.
