By Josh Brown
Miami Valley Today
COLUMBUS — The Troy girls bowling team may not have expected to reach the state tournament at the beginning of the season — but it still found itself near the top of the pack after individual qualifying.
In the end, though, after finishing the qualifying round third to advance to championship bracket competition, the Trojans lost 3-2 in the opening round to Fairborn to finish fifth in the final standings at Saturday’s Division I state bowling tournament at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl.
Troy finished three individual games and three baker games of qualifying with a total of 3,112, sitting in third behind Springfield and Wapakoneta. That matched them up with No. 6 seed Fairborn in the first round, which won 148-157, 151-150, 126-152, 177-139, 171-135 to eliminate the Trojans.
Individually, Kylie Schiml was 13th overall, rolling 201-157-231—589 to lead the way. Jami Loy rolled 182-165-168—515, Kayleigh McMullen rolled 144-190-173—507, Kaitlin Jackson added games of 201-175, Hope Shiltz added 162-181, Adara Myers added a 147 game and Morgan Shilt added a 146.
For Troy’s girls, it was the sixth straight state tournament appearance. It was also the team’s fourth top-five finish in the last five seasons, including the team’s championship in 2016, and the seventh top-five finish in the team’s 12 total trips to state.
A big finish, especially given that the team even reaching state was in doubt just two weeks ago with a ninth-place finish at the D-I sectional tournament. The team caught fire at the right time, though, finishing fourth at last week’s district tournament and remaining above the cut all day during individual qualifying at state.
“It was absolutely a fantastic season, no doubt,” Troy girls coach Rob Dever said. “I am extremely proud of the girls.”
On Friday in the boys competition, Tippecanoe’s James Ridgeway finished 24th individually, rolling 196-221-206—623.
Troy’s Brayden Ganger rolled 231-155-153—539, finishing 62nd.
Contact Josh Brown at [email protected], or follow @TroyDailySports on Twitter.
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