Senior McKenna Coy leads the Center Grove girls bowling team into the state finals.
Chris Williams | For the Daily Journal
Some might see it as beginner’s luck. As for members of Center Grove’s girls bowling team, they probably prefer being categorized as ahead of their time.
In their first season, the Trojans, semistate champions in Terre Haute in late January, are one of 10 teams qualified for the state finals taking place Feb. 17 at Champions Bowl in Anderson.
Comprised of senior McKenna Coy, two sophomores and a pair of freshmen, Center Grove is dreaming large as one of the last teams standing among the 191 girls high school bowling squads in Indiana.
Better yet, the Trojans are peaking at the right time.
“They absolutely continue to get better,” CG coach Jeremy Warren said. “We practice twice a week, and the girls help each other out. They practice hard and take it very seriously.
“Truly, we didn’t think we would make it out of sectional. Everything since then has been a bonus.”
Center Grove lived dangerously in the early stages of the postseason as the third and final qualifier both in the sectional at Royal Pin Expo in Indianapolis and the regional at Classic Bowling Lanes in Bloomington.
In the latter, the Trojans finished with a score of 1,589 pins to place behind Greenwood Christian (1,655) and Roncalli (1,627). Compare that to the semistate at Vigo Bowl in Terre Haute, where Warren’s players teamed to send 1,743 pins airborne.
“Winning is a habit, and it’s great to see their smiles and confidence,” Warren said. “They’re going toward their business, as always.”
Coy, whose family moved to this area from the northern Utah city of Roy in the fall of 2021, is Center Grove’s No. 1 bowler, having rolled an average of 153.88 during the regular season. Freshmen Jameson Warren (146.25) and Haley Sandefur (144.31) are next in the Trojans’ lineup, while sophs Olivia Williams (117.92) and Lorraine Pottgen (100.23) are the other starters.
Center Grove practices Monday and Tuesday afternoons at Hi-Way Lanes in Franklin.
The season began with bowlers focusing on fundamentals. As time went on, points of emphasis included giving each bowler something new to work on each week, practicing picking up spares, targeting individual pins and even watching videos of professional bowlers.
Coy sees the team’s improvement during every practice and competition.
“It’s teamwork. The girls get along and cheer for each other on,” she said. “It’s really important because if you don’t have a smile on your face, it’s going to be a bad day. It’s easy to smile (during competiton), but at the exact same time, you have to keep your cool with other teams around.”
Jameson Warren, the coach’s daughter, got an early start in the sport.
“Me and my mom (Jessica) bowled a league together when I was in elementary school. We stopped for a few years, and then I got back into it,” she said. “I’m very competitive. Everyone on our team works really hard.
“It’s going to take a lot of hard work. We just need to stay focused.”
The same is true for Greenwood Christian senior Emily Heldman and Whiteland’s Ben Burnell, state qualifiers for the individual competition in Anderson.
Heldman finished seventh at semistate by rolling a three-game total of 483; Burnell was seventh among the boys, his tally of 548 including a 204 in Game 1 and a 208 in Game 3.
Team-wise, the Center Grove girls are the only Johnson County school remaining. And as the scores reflect, the Trojans are trending upward.
“I know how good we can be as a team,” Coy said. “If we just keep doing what we’re doing and working as a team, we can win state.”
