WIAA State Bowling 3A: Thomas Jefferson dominates start to end with Individual and Team Championships

2/8/2025

(Tukwila, WA) The 3A State girls Championships were rolled off this past weekend at Bowlero lanes in Tukwila. Day 1 on Wednesday the 30 individual bowlers who qualified joined the 12 5-person teams that qualified for both the team events and each member also compete in the individual competition. The individual competition was held and completed on Wednesday.

The teams took their team totals from Wednesday into the 2nd half of the team competition on Thursday to the 14 game Baker format. The Baker format is where the teams bowl 1 game with 5 players. Bowler 1 will bowl the 1st and 6th frame, bowler 2 2nd and 7th and so on where each team member bowls 2 of the 10 frames.

All Tournaments Highs

Single Games

For all 3 tournaments there were a grand total of 71 200 games. 4 of those reached the 240+ mark.
High Game
246 Samyia Gildon Thomas Jefferson 3A
245 Diva Marsh Bellingham 4A
245 Sanaa Tyler Hudson’s Bay 2A
241 Ava Cruz Silas 3A

Individual Series

There were 7 individual 3-game series for the week that reached 600+ with Jayden Thayer of Bonney Lake scoring 2 of them. There were also just 5 6-game series 1145 or higher.
High 3-game Individual Series
633 Diva Marsh Bellingham 4A
632 Tamia Yeager Spanaway Lake 4A
627 Jayden Thayer Bonney Lake 4A
621 Samyia Gildon Thomas Jefferson 3A
621 MJ Westmoreland Hudson’s Bay 2A
612 Izabelle Hewes Prairie 3A
605 Jayden Thayer Bonney Lake 4A

High 6-game Individual Series
1232 Jayden Thayer Bonney Lake 4A
1209 Diva Marsh Bellingham 4A
1193 Tamia Yeager Spanaway Lake 4A
1173 Samyia Gildon Thomas Jefferson 3A
1145 Sanaa Tyler Hudson’s Bay 2A

Team High Baker Games

There were 20 200 games bowled out of 504 total Baker games bowled. The 4A was most productive with 12 of the 20 and both 3A and 2A/1A getting 4 each. There were just 5 above 220.

High Baker Team game
235 Spanaway Lake 4A
227 Hudson’s Bay 2A
225 Skyview 4A
224 Thomas Jefferson 3A
223 Thomas Jefferson 3A

Total High Team Series

There were 8 team that tallied more than 7,000 pins in their team totals. 5 were from the 4A classification.

High Team Series
7805 Thomas Jefferson 3A
7708 Skyview 4A
7571 Hudson’s Bay 2A
7433 Kamiakin 4A
7213 Emerald Ridge 4A
7167 RA Long 2A
7166 Eastmont 4A
7083 Spanaway Lake 4A

3A Tournament

Samyia Gildon blows open Individual competition finishing with a 246 and 213

The race for the Individual Champion was up for grabs through the 1st four games of the six individual games. There were 7 bowlers between a 573 to 540 series. All 7 were chasing the early leader Izabella Hewes of Prairie with a 612.

Lily Fields of Hermiston was sitting at 573 and Samyia Gildon from Thomas Jefferson with a 562. The others chasing were Talia Gubbe of Capital, Kai Ostrum from Mount Vernon, Samantha McMaster, Alissa Barber and Chloe Shove both from Evergreen of Vancouver.

After the lunch break no one made up much ground on Hewes who tossed a 152. Thomas Jefferson’s Lyla Smith and Alena McDugle did throw their hats in the ring with a 200 and 196 respectively. Gildon held sway with a 162.

When the 5th game began little did anyone know that the race to 1st place was about to be over. Gildon lit up the lanes firing the highest score for all tournaments with a 246. Gildon wasn’t finished and completed taking the Individual Championship with a 213 rolling a 621 3-game afternoon series.

Plus the teams were at a disadvantage after falling behind schedule they took their lunch break after 2 games which meant they had to bowl 4 in a row after the break. This makes Gildon’s finish even more impressive with the 246 and 213 as her final 2 games of 4 in a row.

Hermiston’s Lily Fields’ consistent bowling all day put her in contention but settled for 2nd. Fields book-ended her scores with a 203 and a 201 with a 183, 187, 180 and 170 in between. Although she fell off after the break Hewes’ early lead held up enough for her to take 3rd place. And Capital senior Talia Gubbe didn’t break 200 but also super consistent with all of her games between 173 and 194.

The Thomas Jefferson 5 team members flexed their muscles on opening day with Gildon winning the individual while Lyla Smith and Alena McDugle placed 5th and 6th with teammates Emily Kropp and Laelah Tiquia taking 16th and 17th. So all 5 finished in the top 17 of a total of 90+ contenders.

Last year’s state champs Kennewick were led by Lexis McGarity who placed 2nd in the individual. This season McGarity never got ahold of the lanes like she did last year and finished 15th. Her senior teammate Samantha McMaster had a good start and held on to place in the top 12 to get a medal in 9th place.

Madison Oldcenkamp would have likely placed in the top 12 but after opening with a 126 she was pulled for 1 game. Then came the early lunch break and her final 4 games Oldenkamp caught fire rolling a 171, 188, 192 and 195. Had she bowled the 2nd game she would have only needed a 132 to take 12th place. Had she thrown say 182 she would have been 5th or 6th. So maybe the most unexpected turn-around goes to Oldenkamp with that fantastic finish.

Individual Final Standings

1st Samyia Gildon Thomas Jefferson 1173
2nd Lily Fields Hermiston 1124
3rd Izabella Hewes Prairie 1104
4th Talia Gubbe Capital 1103
5th Lyla Smith Thomas Jefferson 1089
6th Alena McDugle Thomas Jefferson 1082
7th Kai Ostrum Mount Vernon 1059
8th Arianna Long Kelso 1047
9th Samantha McMaster Kennewick 1034
10th Ashley Richards Peninsula 1014
11th Alissa Barber Evergreen (Van) 1005
12th Chloe Shove Evergreen (Van) 1003

Link to full individual scoreboard

Thomas Jefferson dominates Team Competition to their 1st State Team Championship

The 3A team competition was maybe one the least dramatic battles of all time. The top 4 were well in control and at the same time were not close enough to even challenge each others position.

Thomas Jefferson came in on top with a massive 5326 total. Defending Champions Kennewick were solidly in 2nd with 4820, Capital 3rd at 4494 and Evergreen (Van) 4th with 4350. Seattle Prep sitting in 5th was nearly 150 behind Evergreen at 4211.

On top of it, T-J started with a 223 and would roll 3 of the 4 team 200+ games during the Baker format. Capital had the 4th 200 a 206 in the 4th game to control their 3rd place finish.

There were little runs here and there that maybe a team could make a run but none ever developed. In the end they finished in that exact order.

Thomas Jefferson had finished 3rd twice including last season but picked up their 1st ever State Title. Kennewick got their 1st Championship last year and this year picked up the 2nd place trophy for the 6th time in school history. The Capital Cougars earned their 1st ever top 4 placing with the 3rd place trophy and Evergreen took 4th for the 4th time in their program history but already have 5 State Championship trophies.

Team Final Standings

1st Place Champions Thomas Jefferson Raiders 7805
Roster: Samyia Gildon-Sr, Salinda Khammixay-Sr, Emily Kropp-Sr, Alena McDugle-Sr, Lyla Smith-Sr, Abril Gutierrez-Sr, Laelah Tiquia-Fr. Head Coach Joe Townsend, Assistant Coach Michaela Swiney

2nd Place Kennewick Lions 6788
Roster: Lillyana Hooper-Sr, Samantha McMaster-Sr, Madison Oldenkamp-Sr, Anne Hardin-Jr, Lexis McGarrity-Jr, Railey Lamb-So, Melissa Mendoza Gutierrez-So. Head Coach Tom Richardson. Assistant Coach Mike Sandbeck

3rd Place Capital Cougars 6651
Roster: Claire Touney-Sr, Talia Gubbe-Sr, Taylor Hathaway-Jr, Lilliana Perra-Jr, Sophia Sarber-Jr, Aud Summit-Jr, Bronwyn Green-So. Head Coach Mike Deakins, Assistant Coach Dan Wilson

4th Place Evergreen Plainsmen 6453
Roster: Aeryn Noble-Sr, Chloe Shove-Sr, Alissa Barber-Jr, Emma Macheras-So, Amelia Jurgens-So, Ava Shelton-So, Evie Van Dyke-Fr. Head Coach Robin Bailey

5th Place Seattle Prep 6192
6th Place Silas 6142
7th Place Prairie 6062
8th Place River Ridge 6036
9th Place Mount Vernon 5991
10th Place Gig Harbor 5990
11th Place Ingraham 5943
12th Place West Seattle 5905

200 Club

The following bowlers all rolled 200 games in the 3A classification. There were a total of 30 with many bowling multiple 200’s. We list them by their highest and then any additional 200 games next to the highest score.

246 Samyia Gildon Thomas Jefferson also 213, 200
241 Ava Cruz Silas
229 Alena McDugle Thomas Jefferson also 200
223 Izabella Hewes Prairie also 203
217 Chloe Shove Evergreen (Van)
215 Madison Lindeke Timberline also 204
214 Arianna Long Kelso also 202
213 Molly Combs West Seattle
210 Clara Johnston Prairie
207 Laelah Tiquia Thomas Jefferson
206 Shanyce Hamilton River Ridge
205 Shelby Lee White River
204 Emily Kropp Thomas Jefferson
203 Lily Fields Hermiston also 201
203 Lyla Combs Lakes
202 Ashley Richards Peninsula
202 Layla Davenport Kelso also 201
201 Samantha McMaster also 200
200 Alissa Barber Evergreen (Van)
200 Kianna Dougherty Central Kitsap
200 Anne Hardin Kennewick