KHSAA Adds Bowling, 1st New Sport In Kentucky Since 1995

Julie Nichelson has helped build a bit of a dynasty at Pleasure Ridge Park High School, but it’s doubtful most sports fans across Kentucky know about it.

 With some help from the Kentucky High School Athletic Association, that could be changing.

The KHSAA has sanctioned bowling for the first time for the 2011-12 school year and will sponsor regional and state championships in March. It’s the first sport added by the KHSAA since fast-pitch softball in 1995.

Fifty-four high schools across the state — most in Louisville, Lexington and Northern Kentucky — have competed in the Kentucky High School Bowling league since 2002.

The PRP girls’ program has won five state tournaments, including four of the past five (2007, ’08, ’10 and ’11).

If the Lady Panthers can win another state title next March — with the KHSAA now sponsoring it and offering exposure — Nichelson believes it will be a bit more special.

“When you’re not sanctioned by the KHSAA, there’s a stigma that you’re not a legitimate sport,” Nichelson said. “I think being sanctioned by the KHSAA will lend a little more validity to it.”

Bob Hillerich coached the Manual boys to the 2010 state title and agrees that KHSAA sanctioning will be good for the sport.

“What it’s going to do is bring in a lot of new teams,” Hillerich said. “But with those start-up teams, there’s definitely going to be a learning curve.”

The KHSAA said 80 schools are competing this year, with several more planning to add the sport in the next five years.

“Once we … saw the interest for bowling we knew many schools would really take the ball and run with it,” KHSAA commissioner Julian Tackett said. “Frankly, if someone had asked me if we would have 80 schools participating in year one, I would have thought that might be a little too optimistic. But it shows just how much our schools and student-athletes are craving participation and healthy competition.”

The addition of bowling is part of a recent KHSAA push to get more students involved in athletics. Tackett said sports such as bowling, bass fishing and archery — the latter two expected to become KHSAA-sanctioned in the next few years — offer opportunities for students who otherwise wouldn’t get involved in sports.

PRP athletic director Craig Webb said the majority of his school’s 56 bowlers (boys and girls) don’t compete in other sports.

“Most of them have been members of leagues and probably grew up playing as a young kid,” he said. “We do have some kids that participate in other sports and also bowl, but mainly it’s an opportunity for kids to participate in something other than a major sport.”

The season began Nov. 28 and will continue through March, with regional tournaments set for the week of March 12-17 and the state tournament slated for March 23-24 at Executive Strike and Spare in Louisville.

Regional alignments were not available from the KHSAA, but the top two teams and top four individuals from each regional will advance to the state tournament. Team and individual champions will be crowned.

Nichelson expects her PRP girls’ team to be in the hunt again, despite the graduation of 2011 individual champion Stephanie Thieneman. She’s now a freshman on the St. Catharine College bowling team.

Nichelson said senior Allie Henon, who finished 1lth in last year’s state tournament, and freshman Keelyn Cox are among her team’s top bowlers.

“We give them a lot of personal attention and work with them a lot,” Nichelson said. “And there’s a little bit of peer pressure among them, too.”

Campbell County is the defending boys’ state champion. Among teams from Louisville, Fern Creek was the only one to reach last year’s semifinals. Manual, St. Xavier and Trinity all lost in the quarterfinals.

Fern Creek’s JoJo Miller bowled the first 300 game in a KHSAA-sanctioned match last Thursday against Bullitt Central at AMF Derby Lanes.

Hillerich noted that several Louisville schools, including St. X, PRP, Manual and Trinity, have developed tournaments this season to help promote the sport.

He only sees it growing in the future.

“There’s a whole lot of maturing to be done for bowling,” Hillerich said. “We’ve only been going for 10 years, versus other sports that have had a chance to mature as far as rules go. If everybody’s a good sport about it, I don’t think (KHSAA sanctioning) is going to be a big deal.”