The Eagle bowling program, in the middle of its 13th season, is experiencing growing pains. Graduation hit the Eagles hard with just three bowlers returning from the 2017-18 teams.
First-year head coach for the boys’ program is Logan Blentlinger; the assistant coach is Ally West. Both were bowlers for the program in earlier years. Blentlinger was a pivotal part of the program’s first-ever Regional championship team in 2012 and was also that year’s Division 4 individual Regional champion. West was the first girl to go on to bowl at the state level. The two are bringing some great experience to this team.
New bowlers in the boys’ program have adapted very well and are starting to progress nicely, according to Coach Blentlinger. He is very happy with how fast these new bowlers are coming along. Leading the team in average is sophomore Max Desmond with a 144, followed closely by sophomore Kyle Fleck with a 138 average so far. The boys are competing against some very strong teams with lots of experience. The toughest team they face is Bronson, the reigning Division 4 state champions.
|The girls program is coached by Mark Blentlinger who took over the entire bowling program in 2010 from retiring coach Roy Stanford, who had started the program four years before. The girls lone returning bowler is sophomore Maya Pearce. “She has done a great job helping the new bowlers learn the ropes,” her coach said. Pearce is leading the team with an average of 116 followed by freshman Lindsey Hills with a 104. Both teams have a 3-8 record in the conference right now.