SSHS bowlers finish season in top five

The boys bowlers finished fifth, while the girls took fourth at the state meet.

LOWELL — The Siloam Springs bowling teams wrapped up their 2016-17 season on Tuesday with a pair of top five finishes in the Class 7A/6A State Bowling Championships held at Fast Lanes Entertainment.

The Panthers, who won the 7A/6A-West Conference boys championship, finished fifth overall, while the Lady Panthers took fourth place.

It was the first season in school history that both the boys and girls bowling teams advanced to the state championship meet.

“I am very proud of all the kids,” said Siloam Springs head coach Ken Bolinger. “I know they were disappointed in the way we bowled. What I saw was a group of girls and boys compete until the last ball. If that’s all we got out of the tournament then we did great. We had some of the best bowling Siloam has had since we added bowling 12 years ago.

“Our program is getting stronger every year. I am looking forward to next year. Thanks to the seniors who pulled and pushed us all the way!”

Boys

The Panthers finished with a team score of 3,953 to take fifth place behind Lake Hamilton 4,271, Fort Smith Southside 4,253, Cabot 4,221 and Van Buren 4,016.

The Panthers were in fifth place heading into the baker games with 3,303 points, and the final baker games did not improve their final standing, though it did propel Lake Hamilton, who jumped from third to first to win the state title.

Cabot’s streak of six straight state titles ended. Cabot junior Josh Imhoff won the individual state title with a series of 706.

Siloam Springs’ Shane Hanan was the Panthers’ top finisher in 15th place with a series of 603 (177213-213). Karterr Barlow rolled a 596 (179-183-234) to finish 18th, while Ben Holland scored a 593 (201187-205) and finished 20th.

Also competing for Siloam Springs was Garrett Howell with a 572 (174, 217, 181), Nathaniel Brown 503 (169-153-181), Patrick Dowdy 267 (140-127) and Jordan Barker 167 (one game).

Girls

The Cabot girls scored 3,664 points and won their third consecutive state championship in the tournament that featured more than 20 boys and girls teams from across the state at Fast Lane Entertainment.

Mountain Home (3,470) finished second and Rogers (3,451) was third, followed by Siloam Springs with 3,131 points.

Maddison Zollcoffer of Greenwood won the girls championship with a 598 series.

Siloam Springs was actually in fifth place heading into the baker games but rolled well enough to jump into fourth place.

Tessa Brown was Siloam Springs’ top bowler with a 469 series (163-134-172) to finish 21st overall.

Baylie Mullikin was 28th at 459 (154-124-181), while Misti Krueger was right behind her in 29th at 457 (152-169-136).

Savannah Middleton rolled a 383 (139-140-104), while Erica Springer scored a 362 (121-145-96), Holly Green 250 (133-117) and Rhiannason Spencer 134 (one game).