SMYRNA, Tenn. — Bradley Central junior Coty Rymer is in first place going into the Division I boys’ state individual finals this morning at the Smyrna Bowling Center. After a fourth-place total of 945 for four games in the quarterfinals, Rymer took the lead with a 745 for four games on a “sport shot” oil pattern in the semifinals.
He closed with a 234, the best game anyone rolled in the semifinals. His 1,683 leads DeAndre McKinley from Memphis Overton by a single pin, and Hardin County’s Chase Smith is third out of the six finalists with a 1,656 total.
“Coty did an excellent job,” Bears coach Redd Williams said. “He took direction and advice very well and changed his whole shot.
“He has been a swinger. That’s when you throw at the 10 board and let it swing out to the 5 and then come back into the pocket. But with the sport shot he had to go straight up today. You throw at the 8 board and let it ride the 8 all the way.”
Walker Valley senior Samantha Pope, like Rymer a second-time individual state participant, made the Division I girls’ finals with a 1,450. Teammates Lauren Smeltzer and Chelsey McCormack finished eighth and tied for 11th at 1,414 and 1,366, and Soddy-Daisy’s Niki Bell and Kylee Saunders finished 14th and 20th at 1,359 and 1,306.
The Soddy-Daisy boys, who begin team play this afternoon, had four bowlers in the individual tournament, but only Allyn Pickett reached the semifinals, and he had a tough first game there and wound up 20th at 1,489. Logan Johnson from Crossville’s Stone Memorial High just missed the finals with a seventh-place 1,616.
GPS sophomore Sydney Leech also had a near-miss with a seventh-best 571 in the Division II tournament, which began with the semifinals. Bruisers teammates Kara Maynord and Sara Griffith finished 12th and tied for 16th at 554 and 524. McCallie’s Evan Speicher was 22nd in Division II boys.
The quarterfinals were bowled on a “house pattern,” as Bradley’s Williams explained, but one not familiar to Smyrna High and other teams that often use the Smyrna center. The 24 Division I boys who became semifinalists had game averages ranging from 245.75 to 207, but the highest semifinal average was a 200.25 and one was as low as 141.
Pope was the third best Lady Mustang in the quarterfinals, with a 178 game average compared to McCormack’s 187 and Smeltzer’s 185.5, but she actually improved her scoring in the semis with a 184.5 average.
“Samantha did an awesome job, and she was absolutely elated when her name was called in the order [of finalists],” Walker Valley coach Dean Anderson said. “I’m very proud of all the girls.”
Pope finished second in a statewide junior bowling competition two years ago.