In her first year on the bowling team, sophomore Kyla Henthorn stepped up to the varsity position after a sudden injury of a teammate.
While this change may leave some athletes stressed, Henthorn took this change with grace.
“She did really well stepping up,” senior Ellie Lary said. “She is a very coachable person so anything that needed fixing she fixed fast.”
Even with such a short period of time to prepare for varsity competition, Henthorn placed fifth in her first Eastern Midlands Conference tournament. After the EMC tournament, the girl’s bowling team competed in districts where Henthorn placed highest on the team.
“Once Kyla started getting higher scores it was easy for the coaches to trust her filling that position,” Lary said. “It took the stress away from the team knowing she was getting the same scores if not better.”
Bowling itself is an extremely time-consuming sport, often missing multiple days a week for tournaments, leaving Henthorn to dedicate more time than ever before to the sport.
Outside of bowling practice, Henthorn is always willing to spend extra time in the lanes and even brings her non-bowler friends with her.
“She is super positive at practice,” sophomore Ava Thompson said. “She gives lots of high-fives and calms people down when they are stressed out.”
The upbeat attitude of Henthorn eased the change to varsity for both herself and the team.
“To be honest it was a pretty easy choice bringing her up,” girls bowling coach Fred Doscher said. “She is a young bowler and still has many years in front of her.”
