The KHSAA state bowling championships took place Monday through Wednesday at Kingpin lanes in Jeffersontown.
The girls started the action on Monday while the boys followed on Tuesday with the unified and adapted division taking place on Wednesday.
On the girls side, Boone County, Dixie Heights, Simon Kenton and Newport Central Catholic qualified. In the qualifying round, Boone County earned the highest seed out of the four at No. 8. Newport Central Catholic earned the 10th seed, Dixie Heights a No. 13 seed and Simon Kenton the 14th seed.
All four dropped their first round match in best of five bracket play, Boone County losing to McCracken County, 172-164, 141-137, 200-189, Newport Central Catholic losing to Tates Creek, 151-167, 137-135, 138-111, 159-133, Dixie Heights losing to Sacred Heart, 192-123, 150-140, 159-180, 187-141, and Simon Kenton losing to Johnson Central, 208-102, 140-104, 146-102.
In the boys competition, Ryle, Holy Cross and Scott all qualified. In the qualifying round, Ryle earned the No. 12 seed, Holy Cross No. 14 and Scott No. 16.
Ryle advanced out of the first round with a 165-232, 214-168, 194-187, 186-195, 244-217 victory over No. 5 Boyle County. The Raiders then lost in the quarterfinals to No. 4 Pleasure Ridge Park, 184-151, 154-185, 208-187, 188-213, 232-147. Holy Cross lost to No. 3 Central Hardin in the first round, 208-158, 148-148, 177-160, 183-168. Scott fell to No. 1 Trinity, 163-181, 171-192, 247-167, 217-157, 258-157.
In the girls singles competition, Dixie Heights’ Alyssa Bechtol, Cooper’s Alexis Tignor, Boone County’s Ava Mayfield, St. Henry’s Teegan Ellison, Simon Kenton’s Lily Bauer and Newport Central Catholic’s Reilley McMahon all made it out of their respective region and qualified for the state tournament.
Each bowler had three games to advance into the top eight of the 32 competitors to advance to the semifinal round. Of the six, Bechtol was the closest to advancing, but missed out by 25 pins with a cumulative score of 527 in the three games. Tignor bowled a 487, Mayfield also with a 487, Ellison with a 469, Bauer a 461 and McMahon a 422.
In the boys singles competition, Boone County’s Antonio Williams and Covington Catholic’s Dylan Davis just missed out from advancing out of the opening round. Williams finished ninth in the qualifying round, a spot out from the top eight and into the semifinal round. Williams combined for a 634 in his three games, Davis with a 631 and finishing 10th. Campbell County’s Bryce Sargent was 13th with a 608, Boone County’s Maddox Kuryla 20th with a 573. Campbell County’s Mason Booth was 28th with a 515 and Cooper’s Tyler Ketron 30th, bowling a 488 in his three games.
In the unified division, each of the 16 teams had two games to earn their seed. Beechwood earned a No. 4 seed with their efforts, their two game scores totaling 330, Ryle earned a No. 12 seed with a 241 and Dayton was a 16-seed with a 174. All three failed to advance past the first round.