Notre Dame High School will have four bowlers in the TSSAA Division II boys' individual tournament Thursday in Smyrna, Tennessee. The Fighting Irish contingent is led by junior CJ Petrin, whose 214.74 regular-season game average was the highest in the state in Division II.
Notre Dame (22-1) begins team play Friday afternoon as the East Region champion, against Lipscomb Academy (15-4) of Nashville, but Petrin, Carson Barasha (181.54), Griffin Lee (180.52) and Caleb Harrigan (170.81) will be in action a day earlier. Baylor's Dalton Chuba (191.75) and McCallie's Andrew Haun (186.72) also qualified for the individual tournament, and Haun will lead the Blue Tornado against West winner Christian Brothers (14-1) in the team quarterfinals.
Christian Brothers and Lipscomb each has one individual participant. Pope John Paul II matches Notre Dame with four.
East winner Girls Preparatory School (11-2), which faces PJP (11-2) on Friday, has three individual qualifiers: juniors Allie Foropoulos (149.30) and Katelyn Beach (147.41) and freshman Molly Burnett (139.69). Baylor's girls (10-3) will be represented Thursday by seniors Reed Petty (127.96) and Sophie Piskos (125.77) and will challenge West champ St. Benedict on Friday afternoon.
Bradley Central's girls, who lost 17-10 to Stewarts Creek in a sectional match Saturday, have Hannah Winters (183.67) and Makayla Stewart (173.64) in the Division I individual competition. Other area girls' qualifiers are Franklin County's Haley Powell (185.07) and Anna Fornecker (171.52), Tullahoma's Lynsey Jackson (179.00), Walker Valley's Tayla Graham (176.04) and Arts & Sciences' Tamyra Long (154.61) and freshman Kacie Dixson (149.50).
East Hamilton lost its girls' sectional 25-2 at Lawrence County, the Region 4 champion.
Franklin County junior Paul McRae leads the area boys' individual state qualifiers with his 210.82 season average. He will be joined Thursday by Rhea County's Phillip Rogers (208.42), Central's CJ Williams (206.96), Walker Valley's Jacob Brown (206.54), McMinn County freshman Carson Gary (202.19), Signal Mountain eighth-grader Landyn Sanders (183.99) and Hixson's Bryce Raper (181.93).
Rogers and his Eagles teammates will host Blackman at 2 p.m. Monday for a spot in the team state tournament, while Brown and the Mustangs bowl at Tullahoma.
The state competition starts at 10 a.m. EST each day, and admission costs $10 daily. All the team semifinals and finals are set for Saturday. There is no charge for children under school age. Three-day passes for $25 are available at https://gofan.co/app/school/TSSAA.
Contact Ron Bush at rbush@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6291.