Rival schools align for bowling squad
Knoxville — Rival schools have come together this season to compete at the bowling alley.
This year, longtime Kingston Pike rivals, Bearden and Farragut, are bowling as a co-op team during the TSSAA bowling season.
The Admirals and Bulldogs are carrying the Bearden moniker this season and the co-ed squad is bowling its home matches in North Knoxville at Fountain Lanes.
That is a temporary home as the team waits for its home alley, Strike and Spare, located on Western Avenue, to be rebuilt and re-opened after a fire late last year.
Fire ravaged the facility in December and it’s now scheduled to reopen soon.
“We’re bowling our home matches at Fountain Lanes this year,” coach Tracy Webb said. “Our home is on Western Avenue and that alley had a fire last year.”
Webb is in her first year as the team’s coach. She previously was an assistant coach at Carter, which boasts one of the state’s top programs.
In most athletic disciplines, the Bulldogs and Admirals are bitter rivals as they are constantly competing for Kingston Pike bragging rights.
This is anything but the case at the bowling alley.
“This is my first year and I have 11 kids,” Webb said. “Last year, they had four kids.
“They’ve all come together and they all
get along, and it’s all
been really good. We’re smack in the middle of our season.”
The team is comprised largely of young players.
“I have 11 kids and nine of them are freshmen,” Webb said. “We’ve more than doubled the size of our team.”
The team got off to a slow start as it lost five of its first six matches before winning three in a row.
“We started 1-5 and then we won three in a row,” Webb said. “We’re doing better.
“We have a co-ed team, and next year, I’m hoping to have enough girls to have a girls team.”
Some schools have two teams, but most teams are co-ed.
Team members include: Casin Baumann (Farragut, sophomore); Christian Coulter (Farragut, freshman); Matthew Mee (Farragut, junior); Lochlin Scroggins (Farragut, freshman); Talon Adkins (Bearden, freshman); Aniyah Barnes (Bearden, freshman); Maxwell Kay (Bearden, freshman); Alejandra Recinos (Bearden, freshman); Elyas Sosiadar (Bearden, freshman); Andrew Stone (Bearden, freshman) and Juniper Thurman (Bearden, freshman).
