The Jackson girls bowling team had relatively modest goals at the start of the post-season.
At first, the Timberwolves simply wanted to make it through the district tournament and qualify for state. When they accomplished that the Wolfpack then set its sights on finishing in the top four.
Jackson achieved that goal and more, placing second at the Class 4A state girls bowling championship Feb. 2-3 at the Narrows Bowl Plaza in University Place.
Wilson successfully defended its state title with two-day score of 5,061. Jackson took second with 4,939 just ahead of Pasco, which scored 4,893.
“I was very happy with the team effort,” said first-year Jackson coach Dan Eng. “This was a great step in building the program. Hopefully, this will carry over and next year we’ll continue on.”
Jackson was led by Jamie Ellis, who finished seventh overall with 1,082. Cascade’s Breanne Mattson took first place with 1,185.
Other top Wolfpack finishers were Aleeza Alvarez (14th, 1,038), Baiba Rubenis (25th, 987), Alicia Wright (30th, 951) and Jazmyn Tomaszewski (55th, 426).
“This group of girls is very happy,” Eng said. “It was a total team effort.”
An example was the performance of Allison Stephens, who Eng brought up from the junior varsity squad. Stephens came into the tournament with an average of 140, but she bowled a personal best 215 during the first day, helping the Timberwolves to a high score of 939.
“That was our highest score of the six-game series the first day,” Eng noted. “It was extremely high for a five-member team.”
Jackson was in second place after the first day of competition and maintained its position on the second day.
“I’m just really happy and proud of the team,” Eng said.
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