When thinking of winter sports, one’s mind generally goes to the usual suspects; basketball, swimming and wrestling. Despite the majority of the spotlight being eaten up by these events, there is one sport which continues to fly under the radar: bowling. 

Despite not garnering much attention from the media, bowling is still an extremely popular sport nationwide. There are more than 5000 10-pin bowling centers around the country and 67 million Americans who bowl at least once a year. This rather-large player base coupled with the renowned success of the inaugural year of the girls bowling team led to the formation of a boys bowling team at LOHS. The first year team is made up of seven LOHS seniors: Raegan Henshaw, Jake and Zach Jarrett, Jack Whitney, Cam Skrondel, Grayson Wert and Carson Bush. This unit has shown immediate early chemistry recently winning districts led by a star performance by Skrondel. 

Describing the impact of the bowling team Whitney said, “We’ve all been friends for a while but since bowling started we’ve been going a few times a week so we’ve gotten a lot closer.” He attributed a majority of their success to their chemistry. “We’ve gotten used to our roles on the team which helped us do really well in districts,” he said. Despite a wave of early success, the work ethic of the team has not dissipated. Whitney continued, “I’ve been going all the time with the guys so that we can win state in our program’s first year.”

Some members of the team, such as Jake Jarrett have been bowling for a long time before joining the team. Jake Jarrett said, “Before joining the team I bowled probably once a month.” The experience and veteran presence on the team will undoubtedly help them rise up at the state tournament. 

If Lake Oswego were to make a push for a state championship, it would require Skrondel to continue his amazing level of play. He is undoubtedly the team’s star and will carry a large weight in their state title run. Bush also plays a large role so he and the rest of the supporting cast will need to be on their A game if they want to continue doing what Jake Jarrett considers his favorite part of bowling, “Winning.”