The Chandler High School Boys Bowling team won their way to the state tournament in the Regional Tournament, held at Rt. 66 Bowl in Chandler on Feb. 15. They qualified for bracket play at the competition in Enid; however, they were eliminated by Elgin High School.
This is the second year there’s been a high school bowling program in the area, according to Ladonna Berry, owner of Rt. 66 Bowl in Chandler. The league is run through Oklahoma High School Bowling. Currently, there are only two teams in the area - boys teams from Chandler and Carney.
“Kind of crazy, this is something I didn’t even know existed just a couple years ago, and this is pretty phenomenal,” Berry said. “We were excited once we learned that there were possibilities for scholarship, for youth development, and we wanted to give that opportunity to our local youth.”
The league is open to all schools in the area to participate, Berry added. Rt. 66 Bowl was the host of one of five regionals held around the state. The top two teams from both the boys and girls side were invited to compete at state. For boys, six teams competed at regionals - Broken Arrow, Cascia Hall, Cushing, Town and Country, Carney and Chandler. Only three girls’ teams competed: Cushing, Ripley, and Cascia Hall.
Carney placed third, just one spot shy of continuing on. The team will next compete at the All-Star Tournament on March 1 at Frontier Bowl in Cushing, where they will be joined by two girls, Emma Mayes and Karlea Wright.
“Both these teams, they’ve done so well. And you have some awareness that, you know, there’s yet another opportunity right here in our community for the youth,” Berry said.
The Chandler team is coached by Joey Gibson and John Richardson. The members are Hunner Richardson, Joel Telford, Caden Scribner, Tristen Spinnazola, Will Herrmann, Eli Smithey, Jake Smithey and Jake Frank.
The Carney team is coached by Cody Cox and includes Dakota Cox, Braden Penney, Lukas Watts, Garrett Webb, Remington Martin and Eli King.