The Panthers girls bowling team look to have perhaps one of their best seasons in 21st year coach Ron Pendegraft can recall. Luke McElwain is the top returner on a boys team that shows a lot of potential.
“As far as the girls go, we have a really strong team, perhaps the best we’ve ever had,” Pendegraft said. “We have four really strong bowlers and two others that round out the varsity team. I have one kid that was varsity last year, Luke. All the rest are one or two year guys. It’ll be a tough go for them but they show potential.”
The Panthers are practicing at Alley Bowl in Osceola due to there being no bowling alley in Creston.
“They’re gracious enough to let us practice there,” Pendegraft said. “It’s a nice facility too.”
Creston bowled against Norwalk on Tuesday in their first competition of the year. The girls varsity team defeated the Warriors 2095-1911. Hallie Orr bowled a team high 184 and a series high of 325 in the efforts for the varsity.
The boys varsity team fell 2686-1796 and Luke McElwain was the leader in both high game and high for the series with 136 and 271 in the respective categories.
In order to improve any sport, one has to practice. The same is very true for bowling.
“The big thing with bowling is the field of play,” Pendegraft said. “The lane is constantly changing, the oil pattern is always changing. Reading that and then making adjustments on where you position yourself with an approach, combine that with a target as well as release, hand position and speed.”
The typical oil pattern in high school bowling is known as a house pattern where the majority of the oil is down the middle 20 of the boards.
The outer 10 boards normally have a minimal amount of oil on them.
Even though coach Pendegraft has been coaching for awhile, he enjoys coaching this sport the most.
“I’ve been doing it a long time, and it never gets old,” Pendegraft said. “I know these kids will probably bowl the rest of their life.”