The amicability was evident last Wednesday as the Everett High School girls bowling team descended on Evergreen Lanes.
The team arrived in groups of two or three, most sporting their blue team polos with their first names emblazoned in yellow on the upper left side.
Some teammates headed straight to the lanes reserved for them, while others gathered around a table and were soon sharing a plate of French fries.
Senior and third-year co-captain Andrea Hurley bowled a frame while chatting on her cell phone as her teammates wandered in and out of the bowling area.
The feeling among the team members was friendly and loose and there were several reasons why.
It was finals week at Everett High and the team had gotten home late the night before after clinching their third consecutive 3A District 1 title and accompanying state berth the night before in Ferndale.
But the primary reason might lie in the seemingly inherent sociability of the sport itself.
“We are (close) — we love each other so much, it’s amazing,” said senior Sierra Neeley. “(I love) the camaraderie. Just getting together after school and coming here and sharing a plate of fries and making fun of each other for how we’re eating them — just being ridiculous and silly.”
Serious bowlers have always toed a fine line between competition and fun, but this team certainly knows how to find the balance.
Hurley said the camaraderie both within the team and shared genial feelings with opponents makes the sport unique.
“It’s fun — everybody kind of knows everybody, especially in high school bowling. The teams all know each other because we all bowl together. It’s not like in other sports,” she said. “If somebody gets a strike on the other team, you give them a high-five. It’s pretty cool. It’s a really great support system and we have a lot of fun.”
Fans don’t normally see basketball players on opposing teams high-five each other after a steal and a layup or a cornerback congratulate the receiver who beat him for a touchdown catch but “It’s just more fun that way,” according to senior co-captain Chrissy Taylor.
“We’re just sitting and talking when we’re not bowling so I guess that’s why we’re more friendly than in sports where you don’t get to talk to the other team,” she said. “It’s very friendly.”
“It’s really a fun atmosphere,” added second-year head coach Kathy Bogart. “By the end of the season they’re all friends. They really support each other and help each other and it’s really just kind of a fun atmosphere.”
Further strengthening the bond the Everett girls have forged with their opponents is the fact that prior to this season the Seagulls often shared bus rides to away matches with rivals Cascade and Jackson. In fact, the most competitive moment the teams experienced may have occurred as the trips concluded.
“We were the first ones dropped off always so then we’d get to scream the alma mater — not even sing, scream the alma mater at them,” Neeley fondly recalled. “They didn’t get a chance to (do the same) before we got off the bus.”
But the friendliness Everett enjoyed while dominating the regular season — winning the Western Conference with a 10-2 record in meet play — will likely give way to competitiveness as the Seagulls look to improve on last year’s fifth-place state tournament finish this Friday and Saturday at Narrows Plaza Bowl in University Place.
If Everett has an advantage, it’s certain to be the experience the team has accumulated over the past several years. Juniors Shalin Ram, Jennifer Beck and Brianna Kinman join seniors Hurley, Taylor and Neely as returning members of last year’s state tournament team.
Sophomore Shelbi Douty is the only newcomer to this year’s varsity squad, and the bowlers hope that team familiarity will breed success.
“Some of us like to be cheered on and some of us don’t like any encouragement as far as when they’re going up to bowl,” said Taylor, who fell in love with the sport while watching her older sister, Michelle, compete during Everett High’s inaugural season eight years ago. “Some people don’t like that — it makes them nervous and some people, it boosts their confidence, so we kind of know that between different players.”
Hurley said she is hoping for a top-three finish this weekend and Neeley didn’t hesitate to say she thinks Everett can win the whole thing.
Bogart didn’t really speculate on her team’s chances, but she said she feels blessed to be a part of her team’s lives and bowling careers.
“I came into this situation two years ago knowing I was coming into something really special,” Bogart said. “These girls have been together since they were little and they’ve bowled together, some of them for four years on this high school team, so I knew it was something special and I knew I was really lucky to be a part of it.”
Jackson High School will compete in the 4A state tournament team competition after finishing second in the 4A Tri-District Tournament in Tacoma on Saturday. Competing for the Timberwolves will be Aleeza Alvarez, Alicia Wright, Baiba Rubenis, Jamie Ellis, Danae Ellis and Allison Stephens.
Cascade qualified two bowlers for the 4A state tournament individual competition, highlighted by Sara Elliott’s perfect game on Saturday, which is the first in league or district play that Cascade coach Ron Hicks is aware of. She will be joined by fellow junior Breanne Mattson on Friday at Narrows Plaza Bowl.
“Both of them are my co-captains,” Hicks said. “Any one time either one of them will do a good job and match up well with any of the girls at (the state tournament).”
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