While there are tens of millions of recreational bowlers across America, the sport doesn’t get a lot of coverage in the media, especially on the high school level. But there are plenty of skilled bowlers making a nice living on the professional circuit, and many of those same competitors once competed as teenagers.
Earlier this month several members of the two Greenwood High School bowling teams participated in the 5A West conference tournament and the state tournament. They were led by Chad Mercado in his first year at Greenwood after moving from Beebe. He is also head coach for the Diamond ‘Dogs.
While Mercado is an experienced and respected baseball coach, this is his first season to coach bowling. He willingly admits that he has learned much from his players this past season and had fun doing so.
“I learned a lot this year,” he said. “The intricacies of the sport and the lanes and the different ways to bowl. The kids taught me a tremendous amount, which was really nice, and I had a blast doing it. So it was good.
“The boys have been nothing short of dominant this season, compiling a 10-1 record,” said the coach. “[That] included a victory over crosstown rival and last year’s state champion, Fort Smith Southside.
“Ry Bullington and Nick Yowell have led us all year. They’ve been the most consistent, with Ry routinely topping 200 and Nick mixing in several 200-plus games early in the season.
“Aden Thorman has been the most improved player. He has consistently raised his average throughout the year,” added the coach.
“Conference was great,” he continued. “[Our boys] ended up coming in fifth place to get us qualified for state. The girls didn’t qualify, but we had three girls qualify for state individually, so we had a real strong representation. The girls are really young. They were almost all freshmen.
“The girls have been led [all year] by Kennedy Holland, Sara Dungan, and Cassidy Childers, who all top 130 on a regular basis. German exchange student Leona Schneke has blossomed into a solid performer, raising her average over 50 points since joining the team,” said Mercado.
“Brooklyn Elmore was an alternate [at state]. Cassidy Childers went, Leona Schneke, my girl from Germany, and Sara Dungan. I’m excited to see what they will do over the course of the next few years.
Sara Dungan compiled a three-game set of 377 at the conference tournament and a 374 at state. Foreign exchange student Leona Schneke bowled a 407 in the league tournament and 337 at state, and Cassidy Childers scored a 356 at the conference tournament and 415 at state.
“For both squads, the support they give each other has been the bright spot of the year,” explained the coach. “Many of their best performances have come in the “Bakers” team competitions.”
At the conference tournament, held at Bowling World in Fort Smith earlier this month, Ry Bullington was on top of his game, rolling games of 184, 187, and 214 for a 195 average to lead his teammates.
At the state tournament last week Bullington had a three-game average of 186, followed by Nick Yowell with a 170 average.
Joshua Taylor was third for Greenwood with an average of 158, Taylor Morehead fourth at 155, with Aden Thorman fifth for the Bulldogs at 141, and Will Chancey sixth at 124.
“We actually started out in a really big hole,” said Coach Mercado. “Everybody was down. We had a great year. We were 10-1 and our team score was hovering around 1,000 pins every game.
“[At state] we were at 828 for the first game and we were in last place. But they were having trouble getting used to the lanes and some general nerves [too], because we had only two kids that had competed in state before.
“But they bounced back and put up some big games in the middle, so we had some guys step up. By our third game we started to look like our regular [selves]. We jumped up from last place to sixth,” he added.
But inconsistency in the Baker’s competition cost the Bulldogs a spot in the final standings and they finished the state tournament in seventh place overall.
“But we’ve got some guys coming back and I’m really excited about next year’s team,” said the coach.