Triad High School is expanding its athletic offerings for the 2011-12 winter season.
For the first time, Triad has boys and girls bowling teams. They will compete in the Southern Illinois High School Bowling Conference, which was founded in 1996. It is comprised of 25 schools split into three conferences competing at 13 different bowling centers. Kevin King is the boys coach while Kate Brendel will coach the girls.
"We've had some students in the past that have been bowlers and their parents have wanted to put together a program and they've been able to get enough schools in the (Mississippi Valley) conference participating that Triad decided to go ahead and put a team together," King said.
In addition to using their own bowling knowledge, King and Brendel are bringing in veteran bowlers from Triad's home center, Camelot Bowl in Collinsville, to work with the boys and girls teams.
"Our numbers are pretty good for a first-year program," King said. "I had 22 boys come out and I kept 13. Kate had 12 girls come out and she kept all of them. Most of the them have some league experience, but not necessarily a highly competitive league. Some other kids have bowled just as a recreational thing with their friends.
"We had a rough night in our first match (Nov. 16) and ran into some pretty strong bowlers from Wesclin, but we're making progress."
Leading the way for the boys team is senior Oliver Bodkins, who has considerable league experience. The lineup for the first match also included freshman Brandon Reigel, sophomores Brad Shuksta and Clay Cooper and junior Christian Bosaw. Other bowlers likely to see varsity action are sophomore Alex Reiss and junior Ben Lopatin.
"We just want to work to be competitive throughout the conference schedule and I think we will be," said King, who is a technical education instructor at Triad. "Hopefully we'll learn a lot in our first few matches. For the kids that are coming back next year, we'll telling them how important it is put in some time during the offseason to work on their game."
Senior Madison Jacobi is the No. 1 bowler for the girls.
"As soon as she found out about our program, she's spent almost every other night practicing," Brendel said. "We've seen a lot of progress with her."
Other members of the girls team are seniors Karlie Daugherty, Faith Kreoger, Allison Meyer, Kelsey Miller and Holly Pickens, junior Alex Murray, sophomore Ashley Pickens and freshmen Michelle Fresen, Amanda Jondro, Mariah Melton and Christiana Erlinger.
"I just want the girls to have fun, be successful and see some improvement from the beginning of the yeat until the end," said Brendel, who is a school guidance counselor. "I'm really excited about the potential of this program."
Triad was scheduled to bowl Tuesday against Waterloo at West Park Lanes in Columbia, with the girls making their season debut. The Knights face Metro-East Lutheran Monday at Cougar Lanes at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville.
