Shelton, led by Merriman’s school record, stands in fifth place at girls state bowling championships

Many schools might feel discouraged being buried underneath the pin-crashing avalanche that defending Class 3A state girls bowling champion Evergreen of Vancouver delivered on the field Thursday.

But not Shelton High School.

Armed with their big smiles and unusually-loud cheers, the Highclimbers are in fifth place after six individual games at the 3A tournament at Narrows Plaza Bowl in University Place. Evergreen leads the way with 5,489 pins heading into Friday’s action. Prairie is second at 5,154 pins.

Shelton, the 3A South Sound Conference winners, finished the day with 4,700 pins, led by junior Dreann Merriman. She took eighth place with 1,065 pins, which is a school record in the split-classification era.

Brittany Stoutnar placed second in 2006 when girls bowling was just a one-classification event.

“I am really happy with where are are,” Highclimbers coach Dann Gagnon said. “To make it to state two years in a row … we are not disappointed at all.”

Merriman seems to save her best bowling for Narrows Plaza. She took 10th last season, and improved on that Thursday. Five of her six games are 170 or better, including a 206 high in the second game.

“Our spirits stayed high throughout the whole day,” Merriman said. “For myself, I bowled about the same (total) as last year, but the difference is I wasn’t as consistent in my games as last year.”

Yelm’s Bethany Place was the area’s top finisher in sixth at 1,069 pins.

“Top 10 was my goal,” Place said. “I went over my average, and I am proud of that.”

Last season, Timberline’s Marissa Lindeke lingered right around the top 10 for much of the 3A tournament before settling for 12th at 1,062.

She was slightly off that total Thursday with 1,056, but moved up two spots to 10th.

“I was so close last year to the top 10, and got punched out,” Lindeke said. “I did better this year keeping my cool when I had a bad game. I just tried to make up for it the next game.”

Capital’s Lizzy Miles is one of the area’s top fastpitch players as a catcher. And now she is the school’s first 1,000-pin performer at the state tournament in just her second season of bowling. She was 20th at 1,004.

“To start a new sport now, and try and figure out all the nuances — it is weird going into (a state event) not knowing all the nuances,” Miles said. “But it’s been fun. It’s been a complete learning experience.”

This story was originally published January 31, 2019 at 6:05 PM.