Over halfway through the season, the boys and girls bowling team competed against Seminole High School on Monday. Coach Brittany Ziobro and her teams got to Oviedo Bowling Center on the afternoon of Sept. 29.
“We have a really talented group for our boys and girls,” Ziobro said. “Both of the teams and the players on that team are committed. And they really have the goals of winning districts, and some of them have goals of individually making it to states.”
Noah McPherson (244 High Game) and Conner Jimenez (214 H.G.) led their team in a 2410-1732 win over Seminole. For the girls team, Johanna Buzzard (160 H.G.) and Chloe Tabor (148 H.G.) were top performers for the Huskies in a 1491-1500 loss to Seminole.
So far, the team is well on their way to their goal of making it to the States. The team’s goal is to eventually make it to states, but Ziobro does not believe that focusing on the pressure will produce the best results.
“They really shine when they’re just having fun,” Ziobro said. “And so the number one thing that I stress with them is having fun and finding their happy moments so that they don’t get in their head so much.”
Nicholas Stephen, the leader of the boys team, is also often one of the top performers for the boys.
“It’s [very] pressuring to be a top performer, because I’m the anchorman alongside a few other teammates,” Stephen said. “Sometimes I do good, sometimes not. Part of that is because of having a lot of pressure. I feel a little nervous going into the games, but it’s often only the first or second practice.”
McPherson has eventually practiced his way to a spot as a top performer, few people who contributed the most score in a match.
“I was obviously not good, and it was okay enough my freshman year to where I was like the number eight spot on the team, where I basically just had a bench the whole time,” McPherson said. “What I realized [in] my freshman year [is] that you can still encourage your team and get them to be where they want to be.”
For the girls, Chloe Tabor, one of the top performers in this match, joined the bowling team just this year with her friend Chloe Miller. Though she joined just to enjoy and have fun her senior year, she realized about bowling after she started competing.
“A lot of people don’t understand,” Tabor said. “Bowling gets stressful, and it’s a very underestimated sport, and it takes a lot of skill. I came in thinking it would be easy, but there’s a lot of little things that you have to work on.”
The team’s major focus this season will be preparing to play against Lyman High School on Sept. 30, and Winter Springs High School on Oct. 6.
As of now, the boys team has their record as 12-0, and the girls team has 7-5. With the boys team undefeated and the girls with more wins than losses, the team has heightened morale for the rest of the season.
“We have a whole team that can really support one another, not just by yourself. It’s all about the team,” senior Mitch Guttentag said.
