Leader sports editor
The Cabot bowling teams are undefeated so far this season
after adding wins over Riverview and Benton last week at Allfam Bowling Center
in Cabot. The Panther boys are the four-time defending state champions and have
no intentions of letting that streak end this year. Last year’s championship
team lost its top bowler, but brings back most everyone else who played a key
role in last year’s title-winning performance.
First-year coach Clark Bing believes his group should be one
of the leading contenders again this year.
“I think beating Benton is a good measuring stick because
they’re always pretty good,” said Bing. “Benton has won a state championship
and finished runner-up to us a couple years running. Of course, you never know
what’s going to come out of the West (Conference). But we should be up there
for sure.”
Bing says consistency is the key to a fifth-straight
championship. Though undefeated, bowlers weren’t keeping scores up from one
game to the next early on. The head coach sees that changing.
“For example, Josh Imhoff had a very good day last
Thursday,” Bing said. “He went 267 and 268 in consecutive games. It’s hard to
repeat when you bowl that well, and to bowl on pin better said a lot about how
focused he was and was able to maintain it. We’re seeing that a little more.”
Imhoff, a sophomore, had the high score in the conference
meet last year as a freshman. Senior Blake Palladino and junior Cole Stillman
have also shown increased steadiness.
“We talk a lot about bowling above your average at game
time,” Bing said. “We’re starting to see that more and more. Keaton Hayes is
another kid that had a very good day last Friday. He bowled well above his
average in both games against Benton.”
No one has approached record-breaking scores like Cayden
Cook did in Cabot’s 2014 championship. The 2015 team managed another title
without that kind of performance, and Bing believes this group can do the same
after losing another top senior.
“There’s no one standout,” Bing said. “It’s been different
people here and there playing above their average, and that’s our goal right
now.”
On the girls’ side, Hayleigh Baugh, Micah Perry and Emily
Tripp are leading the way. Sophomore Olivia New came through with a 199 against
Benton, which is not her best game ever, but above her average. The Lady
Panthers have also won four state championships, but never back-to-back. They
have alternated between champion and runner-up the last eight years.
“I think we definitely have the potential to repeat,” Bing
said. “Like I said, you never know what’s coming from the West. And if we go
out there and all bowl above our average and get beat, you just have to
congratulate the winner. If we go out there and don’t bowl well, that’s our
fault. So we’re working hard right now on being consistent and limiting those
lapses.”
