The bowling team competed at regionals March 3 at Tomball – setting a record for having an individual bowler qualify to state for the past four years.
Senior Haylee Raska will be going to state for individuals at Grand Prairie, near Dallas, this Saturday. She is the first CCHS bowler to have qualified to the state competition in four consecutive years and is determined to place.
“It’s honestly exciting,” Raska said. “I’ve bowled my whole life. It makes me happy and it’s fun for me. It’s not a passion anymore; it’s part of my blood.”
Setting herself correctly has been key in every match. Her temper is a setback, she said.
“My work ethic is to focus on each ball,” she said. “I practiced almost every day for two, three hours at Time to Spare. I have invested countless hours into bowling.”
Raska tells herself that one bad frame cannot mess up her game.
“I focus on one frame at a time,” she said. “Thinking about how I need to throw the ball, how I need to stand, where I need to throw the ball, where I need to hit the pins at in order to spare or strike.”
Raska hopes to keep bowling after high school and has received offers from Southern University and from Oklahoma Christian University.
As a whole, the girls bowling team placed second at regionals after ending the regular season 4-9. Boys placed third at regionals after ending the regular season 10-4. The teams were just short of qualifying for state.
Despite this shortcoming, junior Lili Morris believes they did well saying they at least won four games.
With this loss tucked under their belt, they head on for next year’s bowling competition with high hopes and big expectations for the incoming group.
“Next year I hope we have a bigger bowling team because right now we only have six girls and it takes five to bowl,” Morris said. “I just want the team to get better.”