Olympic bowlers win district tourney

The Olympic girl’s bowling team is ready to roll for a state title.

With yet another first-place finish, this time at the West Central District bowling tournament at Bowlero Lanes in Tacoma, the Lady Trojans are in position to secure the school’s first-ever Class 3A state bowling championship.

“It’s pretty exciting, we’ve had a phenomenal season,” co-coach Dave Colby said. “I keep telling our girls, ‘This is our year, so let’s make it happen.’”

It’s happening at a torrid pace for the Lady Trojans, who also won the Olympic League regular season championship as well as the league’s postseason tournament.

The Lady Trojans knocked down 3,274 pins to Bremerton’s 3,264, according to scores released by district tournament committe member Loree Hippe, who handles statistics for the Olympic League.

Liza Ambrose rolled a series of 597, tops amongst Olympic rollers and sec ond overall to Klahowya’s Carys Bailey (598).

“I’ve been trying to get into their heads the team concept; that we’re a team, not a bunch of individuals,” Colby said. “They’ve bought into that.”

Convinced this is the strongest team Olympic has fielded during his tenure, Colby said Monday “the girls are pumped and ready to go” as the two-day state championship event, beginning at 10 a.m. today at Narrows Plaza in Tacoma, looms.

“Things are going to be very competitive,” Colby said. “We have as good a chance as anybody.”

The Olympic-Bremerton rivalry has picked up steam since the teams split matches early in the season. Olympic then won the third and final regular-season meeting before capturing the league tournament and district championship. Along the way, the Lady Trojans rolled five games of 900 or higher. The team had never eclipsed 900 prior to this season.

“It makes it very competitive, very exciting,” Colby said, adding the rivalry, while certainly competitive, is friendly. “We’re always pulling for each other.”

Klahowya finished third at districts with 2,831 pins to secure a berth to state, as did Central Kitsap, which finished fourth in Class 4A district action.

Contact Central Kitsap Reporter Sports writer Wesley Remmer at sports@centralkitsapreporter.com or (360) 308-9161.

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