As all of the fall sports are coming to an end, the winter season is on its way, starting with boys and girls bowling. With the boy’s bowling team finishing third in the Northeast 8 Conference, and the girls finishing in fourth, both the girls, and the guys are hoping to do well in this upcoming season.
This year, the head coach is Dean Shanower, a math teacher at Lakeview. This is Shanower’s second year as the head coach and I’m excited to see what will change this year now that he has learned from last year. I instantly noticed how he improved as a bowler himself and is putting effort into helping us. He also learned more about tournaments and scheduled some more tournaments and out-of-conference matches which is great,
Since last year, the number one Lakeview bowler, Sebastian Ruddy graduated last year, there is a huge space to fill in for the team. With some good freshmen coming out of middle school, I think the boy’s bowling team could be pretty good this year. On the girl’s side, they did lose a couple of seniors as well but they have also gained some new players to the girls team.
After being asked how he thinks this bowling season will go, Junior Lucas Redmond commented, “I think this bowling season will go pretty well because we have a few new people coming in this year who will be pretty good with some starting on varsity. We did lose some good varsity seniors last year but I think our team should still be able to win some games.”
On the boy’s team, there are a few freshmen playing with one who will probably start on varsity. On the girls’ side, there are a couple of freshmen who will also start varsity this year because there isn’t a junior varsity team for the girls because there aren’t many girls on our bowling team.
After being asked how excited they are to be starting bowling, Junior Noah Mastitis comments, “I am very excited for bowling this year because it is my first year playing in high school. I have always played when I am with my friends for fun but I am glad I decided to play for the school this year. Also practicing with varsity gets me excited because I might actually start on varsity my first year playing.”
This year, we have 15 matches scheduled, where we will play teams like Canfield, Niles, Struthers, Girard, Hubbard, Howland, Boardman, Jefferson, Harding, and more. From last year, we have a lot more games on our schedule which is great because it allows us to get more practice in, while also playing some great teams to prepare us for sectionals.
After being asked what he’s most excited about for the bowling season, Junior Caden Baldwin commented, “This year I am most excited to see what our bowling team can do after losing some good players last year. I am also excited to just bowl with my friends and have fun. Another thing that excites me is having all of the different matches this year. With playing different teams and tournaments this year, it allows us to go farther away and have fun on the long bus rides.”
With the experience Shanower has gotten from last year, the new players, and the drive of the returning players, I think Lakeview bowling can be pretty good, and win a good amount of games, both boys and girls. I am excited to see what this season will bring with all of the new players, and some of last year’s players who have improved from the off-season.
