Members of the Greenwood Christian girls bowling team pose after winning sectional earlier this month.
Submitted photo
Emily Heldman’s recruiting efforts had little to do with one’s ability to pick up a spare.
As a freshman at Greenwood Christian during the 2020-21 school year, Heldman, already an accomplished bowler, sought to surround herself with persons who, like her, understood competition and liked to have fun.
At a school the size of GCA, such an approach was basically the lone option.
“It’s more fun when you have your friends, and I knew some of them didn’t have a winter sport,” Heldman remembers. “I love my team. Most of them have been in my life since seventh or eighth grade. Some longer.”
Classmate Izzy Cameron, who come summer will be playing women’s soccer at Anderson University, was first on board. Then, one after another, the dominoes began to fall as the Cougars began assembling what is presently regarded as one of the top girls teams in the state.
Earlier this month, GCA claimed the Indy South Conference sectional at Royal Pin Expo in Indianapolis with a total score of 1,664 pins. Next up is the regional competition on Saturday at Classic Bowling Lanes in Bloomington.
Heldman was runner-up at sectional, rolling a three-game sum of 501. Teammate Jillian Rosener, a sophomore, also moves on to individual competition after placing ninth at sectional with a 434. Other Johnson County bowlers taking part are Center Grove’s McKenna Coy (third, 475), Franklin’s Kiaya Morrison (fifth, 448) and Whiteland’s Abby Hopkins (10th, 425).
“It’s the way this team has come together,” Greenwood Christian coach Don Heldman said. “Three years ago, Emily was the only bowler who had experience. She started recruiting friends, and they have become bowlers along the way.”
Roncalli and Center Grove, second and third at sectional, respectively, will be among the other teams at regional. All desire to still be part of the postseason equation when the semistate comes on Jan. 27 at Vigo Bowl in Terre Haute. The state finals are being hosted by Championship Lanes in Anderson, with team competition on Feb. 17 and singles the following day.
For Heldman (a 171.88 per-game average) and Cameron (136.13), the Cougars’ seniors, this is their postseason swan song on the lanes as high schoolers. Danielle McLaughlin (138.27) is the lone junior, and the remainder of the squad is made up of 10th-graders in Rosener (136.43), Livia Cameron (119.11), Sammy Yarnell (116), Addey Staley (92.75) and Alaina Adler (88.91).
Their athletic backgrounds include soccer for the Cameron sisters, soccer and basketball for McLaughlin, and girls golf for Rosener and Yarnell.
“I was really excited to try something new, and I talked Sammy into joining the team, too,” Rosener said. “I love that we encourage each other, and lift each other up.”
The recruiting approach Emily Heldman incorporated is generating positive — and potentially historic — results.
“I told them, you’ll get better through the summers, and I had some of them bowling in the offseason too,” said Emily Heldman, whose top score this season is a 243. “And with my dad there as a coach, he was there to help with their mechanics.”
Bowling at GCA originated in the 2013-14 school year as a coed squad comprised of four boys and two girls. Former Cougars bowler Alexandra Ross won girls individual state titles as a freshman in 2014 and as a senior in 2017.
A decade later, the Cougars continue have no intention of slowing their roll.
