Searcy, AR. (LP) — The Searcy High School bowling team attended the state tournament and earned fourth place in the state. Although they did not win state, the bowling team has had a very successful season featuring a conference championship and many wins, additionally the Searcy team featured very impressive individual performances. Tanner Leonard, a senior, and member of the bowling team voiced his thoughts on the team’s performance, “I think we could have finished the season out with a win at state, but overall we all gave it our best effort and had a really strong season.” The bowling team did have some of the highest individual scores with Shelby Grady (the conference champion) bowling a 213, 216, and 245 at the tournament. Part of Searcy’s success is certainly due in part to the individual practice and coaching of their players. “Not only do we have regular practices but most players spend a lot of time working on their own and with other players outside of practice. You can tell when we go to tournaments that the majority of our players put in more time,” mentioned Tanner Leonard. This kind of work ethic is expected to continue into next season, and be a key factor in deciding the team’s performance in main tournaments.

Although this season did not go as well as the team had planned they are already looking towards next year. Even with multiple star bowlers graduating this spring they believe that they have what it takes to finish solid at state next year and even potentially take state. If the team is to take state as they planned they definitely are going to need their underclassmen to step up and fill the gaps left by many of the seniors that are going to graduate this year. One of those potential underclassmen is Johnathan Davidson. When questioned about his thoughts on the next season responded, “I think that with me and a few other underclassmen stepping up and taking over the team we have a really good chance to win state. We are all willing to put in a lot of work in order to prepare, and we’re going to need to if we want to have any chance.” One major factor that Johnathan brought up was the impact of the student body’s support, “When we know that every one is paying attention and actually cares about how we do I feel like we perform better than when we don’t.” All students interested in joining the bowling team are encouraged to speak with Coach Leonard.