Girls Bowling Districts is an exciting tournament that determines which teams and individuals will compete at the 2025 Bowling State Championships. The Gig Harbor bowling team qualified for districts by making it to the top 7 at the 3A League Tournament, although they were already guaranteed a spot because of their first-place finish in the season. This year’s tournament happened on Saturday, February 1st, at Bowlero Lanes in Lakewood. Out of the 10 teams competing in the 3A league, the top 5 will move on to State. The scoring is based on the total number of pins acquired by each team after three games and four bakers are played.
The goal was to fight hard and qualify for the State Championship as a team, which they successfully did for the first time ever. “It was something we didn’t really think we could do, and to make it this far this year—I think it’s really awesome, especially seeing some of our seniors who have started since freshman year,” said Kim Bornt (11).
The teams met up at 7:15 am and were ready to start warming up an hour later. The lanes were full, and the alley was packed with family and friends cheering on their bowlers. Bowling began promptly at 8:30 am, and three games were played consecutively till about 1 pm. The first game included a 200 run from Ivy Goodkin and placed the Tides in 2nd place with an impressive team score of 794. They continued to bowl competently in the next two games, both scoring well over 700. At the end of the games, the tides were in a comfortable 4th place. “We were able to work together well as a team and encourage each other,” said Bornt.
There was a short lunch break before the baker games were kicked off. The bakers are played as one game with 10 frames, but each player from the team gets two frames, meaning that player 1 gets frames #1 and #6, player 2 gets frames #2 and #7, and so on. Three out of the four bakers went great, but one unfortunate game brought the average down significantly. Out of the four bakers that were played, the Tides scored an average of 141.
After all the game and baker scores were combined, the top teams in the 3A league were Thomas Jefferson High School, Capital High School, and Silas High School. Our own Gig Harbor team claimed the last ticket to the State Championships by finishing in 5th place, a comfortable 42 pins above Peninsula High School. This is the first time that the whole team has made it, as they only had individual qualifiers in the previous years. “Going to state is a bonus on top of coming first in the league and going to districts. I’m really excited—I’m proud of the girls for all the hard work that they’ve put in, and they deserve to go,” says Coach Lillian Amrine.
Overall, the District Tournament was an enjoyable time for our team, not only because of the successful bowling but also because of the time that they got to spend together and the new people that they got to meet. “The district tournament was fun—you get to talk to people from different schools that you haven’t met before,” said Izzy Helpenstell (10). We are all excited to see how the team performs at state and wish them the best of luck.