Shelton falls one spot short of making the Class 3A girls bowling podium

With a fifth-place showing in hand at the Class 3A state girls bowling championships, Shelton High School girls bowling coach Dann Gagnon preferred the sound of something different.

“We were the winners,” Gagnon said, “of the ‘Newcomer Division.’ ”

Going off the past decade, Gagnon was correct. The Highclimbers had not been to the state tournament since 2008.

And the schools that finished ahead of the Highclimbers on Saturday at Narrows Plaza Bowl — Evergreen of Vancouver, which repeated as 3A champion with a whopping 7,974 pins over two days; Hudson’s Bay (7,646), Wilson (7,470) and Kelso (7,466) — had all had great success at the state level during that span.

Shelton is getting close to that needed top-four finish to earn a spot on the state podium, and returning to its glory days in which the school registered four top-three finishes from 2004-08, including a state title in 2007.

“I am super, super excited,” Gagnon said. “We were fifth, playing against teams that are always here.

“We should be even stronger next year.”

The Highclimbers, who still don’t have a home-base bowling alley after theirs went up in flames a few years ago, have a solid nucleus of bowlers who should return next season.

Gagnon does not see a clear-cut anchor bowler among his top four projected returners in juniors Kaylee Slone, Kaylee Schilter and Courtney Chamberlin, and sophomore Dreann Merriman.

“On any given day, any one of them could be an anchor,” Gagnon said. “I like it that way. It is less pressure, and it creates more competition among the kids.”

With a 160 average, Merriman was the team’s top scorer during the regular season. She also placed 10th in the state individual session Friday night.

But Schilter was the top bowler at the league tournament. And the next week, Chamberlin posted the top score.

“The future looks pretty good,” Merriman said. “This week can benefit us a lot. We had no experience here. In my first game yesterday, those first four frames, I didn’t do very well. Basically, I had a lot of nerves with the noise, and the lanes being different and it being all so new.”

Shelton did not lose any ground during the 14 games of Baker team bowling Saturday. But the Highclimbers did post one of the seven 200-pin games in the session — a 203 in the 11th game.

“One thing I’d like to see us work on is getting a little more self-confidence,” Gagnon said. “We will work at it as a team.”

Capital capped back-to-back state trips with a seventh-place effort Saturday, totaling 6,518 pins. The Cougars were sixth a year ago, but with a lower total (6,479).

“It was another good year,” Cougars coach Michael Deakins said. “A key for us, we just focus on bowling as a life sport, and the girls having fun doing it.

“We are not a program. We are kind of a team that practices during the season … and we coach them up as much as we can, and we have a good time.”

This story was originally published February 3, 2018 at 3:23 PM with the headline "Shelton falls one spot short of making the Class 3A girls bowling podium."