WIAA Girls 4A State Bowling: Team effort works for Kamiakin, West Valley's Ada Querin pulls away late for individual Championship

2/5/2024

(Tukwila, WA) The 2024 2A/1A State Girls Bowling tournament was held at the Bowlero Lanes in Tukwila on Wednesday and Thursday. The team competition was over 2 days while individual honors were deceided on day 1.

Individual Competition

In the 4A individual competition saw the only winner not part of a qualifying team. Ada Querin from West Valley high school in Yakima got off to an average start and her coach Brad Cramer thought to himself well maybe this isn’t going to be her year. Cramer had high expectations but knew she would have to bowl well above her average to make a run at a high placing or even a shot at the title. Querin began with a 160 and 159 which had here in mid pack of the 70 or so total bowlers.

It all turned around in the 3rd game when it all began click for Querin and she fired a tournament best 235 and 2nd highest score in all 3 tournaments for the week. This lifted her to 5th place. Querin says it ignited her and durng the lunch hour she re-focused and knew she had to have big games to finish off the final 3 games. Querin said her thoughts were not about protecting her place so she could medal, it was totally on winning it.

After 3 games she trailed the leader Monica Pollock of Emerald Ridge 580-554 down by 26 pins. In her 4th game and 1st after the break Querin rolled a 192 picking up 8 pins on Pollock whop had a 184. Querin also had to deal with Jillian Castle of Eastmont who was tied for 2nd at the break with a 574 series and she bowled a 198 in game 4 and took the lead over Pollock by 8 pins.

Skyview’s Addysen Case was tied for 2nd at 574 after 3 firing a 207 and 214 after an opening game of 153. Case began the the 2nd session with a 156 and she could not dig out of that hole finishing 6th overall in the end. Mt Vernon/Sedro Woolley’s Hailey Lennox was in the mix after 3 sitting in 4th place with a 556 and stayed in contention after the 5th game with a 175 and Richland’s Ali Lemieux who began the day in 1st with a 214 in her 1st game but then dropped a 116 before bouncing back in her 3rd game with a 222 for a 552 series and in 6th place behind Querin by 2 pins. Lemieux began with a solid 182 in the 4th to saty in it. So after 4 games the race to the top was wide open to all top 10 finishers.

This is when Querin took control as she threw a game 5 high 218, 36 pins more than Pollock who had a solid 182. Querin had her 1st lead of the day with 964 pins through 5 games to Pollock’s 946 for an 18 pin lead going into the final game. Querin then closed the deal blasting another 192 finishing with a 602 series for a 1156 total pin count. The 602 was the only 600 3 game series thrown in the 4A tournament.

The race was on for the runner-up medals as Querin beat 2nd place Lemieux by 58 pins. Lemieux grabbed 2nd place with a final 194 while Pollock had her worst game of the day a 151. Lemieux finished with 1098, 1 pin better than Pollock’s 1097 who took 3rd. Just 4 pins back with 1097 was Castle in 4th, Lennox was 5th finishing with 1092 and 6th place was 7 pins back with 1085 by Addysen.

Coming from 10th at the break to 7th and a medal was Graham-Kapowsin’s Kaitlyn Richards with a 1071 finishing strong with a 571 series and the 8th and final medal went to Kai Ostrum from Mt Vernon/Sedro-Woolley with 1067. She edged out Megan Lelli of Curtis by 1 pin who finished with a 1066. So 2nd through 9th place were serparated by 32 pins. Here is the complete list:

1st Ada Querin West Valley (Yak) 1156
2nd Ali Lemieux Richland 1098
3rd Monica Pollock Emerald Ridge 1097
4th Jillian Castle Eastmont 1093
5th Hailey Lennox Mt Vernon/Sedro Woolley 1092
6th Addysen Case Skyview 1085
7th Kaitlyn Richards Graham-Kapowsin 1067
8th Kai Ostrum Mount Vernon/Sedro Woolley 1066

Lane notes:

Ada Querin had the high game and high 3 game series of the 4A tournament with a 235 and a 602 which was the only 600 series in the 4A and only 5 combined in all 3 tournaments with the 3A having 3 and 1 in the 2A/1A tournament. Ada’s 600 series did not include her 235 which was in the 1st session where she bowled a 554. She fired a 192, 218 and 192 in the 2nd session for the 602.

The 2nd high series of the tournament was Monica Pollock’s 580 in the 1st session. The 2nd high game was Skyview’s Kasey Pine who had rolled a 138, 148, 115, 175, 151 before ending her tournament with a blazing 226. Pine finished 27th in the individual tournament but her score help the Storm’s pin count in the team event with their highest combined total of 842 helping the Storm finish 3rd as a team but more on the team below.

There were 22 200 games bowled on day 1 in the 4A tournament with Ali Lemieux getting it started with a 214 in the 1st the only 200 in the opener. Lemieux added a 2nd 200 with a 222, the 3rd highest game of the tournament in the 3rd game. There were 4 200’s in the 2nd game with Hailey Lennox a 200 and a 204 in the 6th game, Addysen Case of Skyview with a 207 and then Case answered in the 3rd with a 214. Ava Porter of Wenatchee rolled a 219 and Federal Way’s Ciel simpson delivered a 211.

Querin had the 235 and 218, Monica Pollock had just 1 200 game a 201, Jillian Castle rolled a 209, G-K’s Kaitlyn Richards had a 203, Kai Ostrum Mt Vernon/Sedro-Woolley knocked down 205, Quinn Shaner of Kamiakin had back-to-back 202’s, Quinlyn Kirby of Emerald ridge with a 211, Mercedes Gonzalez from Camas scored a 214, Reese Kautzman from Eastmont with a 213, Clara Demarest from Kamiakin a 206 and Devon Cervine from Eastmont with a 201.

The top score from a bowler that bowled in 4 or fewer games was Chelsea Revenall with a 161 and the high score of bowling in just 1 game was a 157 for Kami Kober of Rogers (Puyallup).

Team Competition

In the team competition it is a combination of the 6 individual series combined with 14 games of the Baker finals format on day 2. Just the top 4 teams get a trophy.

The team competition was truly a team effort as not one of the members of the State Championship team finsihed in the top 8 of the individual competition with the highest 10th overall. 2 others finshed 14th and 15th then 23rd and 34th along with 2 alternates all pitched in a true team effort for the Kamiakin Braves. The last time the Braves were in the State Tournament was the only time their team qualified last season taking 3rd place. In their 2nd straight appearance Head Coach Scott Biglin and his girls took back the big gold ball trophy and a State Championship.

Kamiakin was led by Lilliana Martinez a junior who finished with a 1038 6 game pin count good for 10th overall. Senior Quinn Shaner was 14th overall and sophomore Alyssa Martinez was 15th. Clara Demarest was 23rd and Grace Hubbert was 34th while Meredith Stavenger was the sub. The Braves came into day 2 with a 52 pin lead over Emerald Ridge 4930 to 4878. Wenatchee was in 3rd followed by Eastmont and Skyview. Richland, Mt Vernon/Sedro Woolley and Rogers (Puy) were further back.

When the Baker games began Kamiakin got off to a horrendous start with a 113, 119 and 122. Emerald Ridge went flying on by with 152, 152 and 156 and quickly saw that 52 pin lead evaporate into a 54 pin deficit. Skyview made a move in games 4-6 with a 168, 221 and 170 to get back into the running.

At the midway point Emerald Ridge had taken the lead 5935 to Kamiakin’s 5932 and Skyview still with a shot at 5829. The 3 teams would really not move much from the 7th game with Kamiakin and Emerald Ridge going back and forth and Skyview not making a serious dent.

Through 13 games and heading into the final showdown Emerald Ridge held onto a slim 3 pin advantage 6910 to 6907. Kamiakin had saved their nest for last blowing out a 203 while E-R struggled finishing with a 137. The Braves pulled away for the 63 pin win and took home their 1st State Bowling Championship. The Jaguars held on for 2nd while Skyview remained 3rd with a total of 6969. The Storm held off Wenatchee who were up and down but did enough to take home the 4th place trophy with a final count of 6948.

Richland made an early run but flattened out to finish 5th with 6867 just in front of 6th place Eastmont with 6823. Mount Vernon/Sedro-Woolley was 7th with 6523 and Rogers of Puyallup took 8th knocking down 6096.

Teams and Coaches

1st Place Kamiakin Braves 7110
Team members: Quinn Shaner (12), Clara Demarest (11), Grace Lynn Hubbert (11), Lilliana Martinez (11), Meredith Stavenger (11), Alyssa Martinez (10)
Head Coach: Scott Biglin Assistant Coach: Amy Biglin Athletic Director: Kyle Cowan

2nd Place Emerald Ridge Jaguars 7047
Team members: Quinaln Kriby (12), Monica Pollock (12), Madilyn Pollock (11), Jamie Sheldon-Hays (11), Chelsea Ravenell (11), Moriah Brown (10), Layla Nebert (10)
Head Coach: Al McCormack Assistant Coach: William Dicken Athletic Director: Jesse Kase

3rd Place Skyview Storm 6969
Team members: Kasey Pine (12), Avery Henderson (11), Kaydree Rowland (11), Addysen Case (11), Abby Pine (10), Bri Hust (9)
Head Coach: Traci Chun, Eric Silvey Athletic Director: Andy Meyer

4th Place Wenatchee Panthers 6948
Team members: Rayna Barry (12), Ava Porter (12), Kaitlynn Cunningham (11), Alayna Aguayo (11), Charlene Campbell (11), Romilly Hursh (11), Sophia Johnson (10)
Head Coach: Jeremy Anders Assistant Coach: Jennifer Thacker Athletic Director: Jim Beeson

5th Place Eastmont Wildcats 6867
Team members: Grace Hensley (12), Savannah Nuxoll (12), Jillian Castle (11), Devon Cervine (11), Reese Kautzman (11), Claire Collins (10), Hailey Hopkins (10)
Head Coach: Christy Binge Assistant Coach: Scott Cervine Athletic Director: Russ Waterman

6th Place Richland Bombers 6833
Team members: Malia Haynes (12), Sierra Ruelas (12), Peyton Gonzalez (12), Ryka Schirm (12), Elizabeth Thermos (12), Ali Lemieux (11), Miley Lakey (10)
Head Coach: Jason Bare Athletic Director: Adrian Ochoa

7th Place Mt Vernon/Sedro Woolley 6523
Team members: Kira Leong Osborn (12), Ally Ploudre (12), Hailey Lennox (11), Kai Ostrum (11), Clementine Bisagna (10), Ashlynn Huss (10), Leighandrea Harris (9)
Head Coach: Greg Hill Assistant Coach: Stephanie Ploudre Athletic Director: Jordan Sneva

8th Place Rogers (Puy) 6096
Team members: Ella Collins (12), Kiersten Engelhart (12), Abigail Baker (11), Bergen Carlson (11), Keira Hanson (11), Georgia Martin (11), Kami Kober (10)
Head Coach: Justin Wisness Assistant Coach: Courtney Karch Athletic Director: Peter Collins

Interviews

ESN talks with West Valley’s Ada Querin the Individual Champion