Team accomplishments are held in very high regard in high school sports. However, sometimes there are athletes who have earned recognition for their individual achievements. This happened for not just one Patriot on the bowling team but also for three different athletes at the Millard North Invite held earlier this year. The all-tournament teams which consist of the bowlers with the highest overall scores throughout the tournament consisted of three different Patriots.
On the girl’s side, Sophomore Mae Martin had the third-highest overall score with a score of 572 while Senior Rylee Anderson had the highest overall score with 579 as she was awarded the all-tournament team captain. On the boy’s side, Senior Neko Manna had the highest overall score with a 621 and was also named the all-tournament team captain.
“It felt really good since a lot of people struggled at that tournament but I felt I bowled well,” Manna said. “Unfortunately, we struggled during [the team portion] of the tournament but I still felt really good following the tournament.”
“My first game was really good so I felt really excited for the rest of the day,” Anderson said. “As the tournament kept going, I was happy for me and Mae because we could tell we were both getting high scores.”
One of the biggest challenges to being successful in a tournament is that the athlete must believe in themselves going into the tournament and have the confidence to do well.
“I was feeling good going into the day,” Manna said. “I knew it was going to be at Maplewood Lanes where I felt comfortable. Even after I struggled in the first game, I pulled myself together and bowled well enough to get the highest score at the tournament.”
“I was feeling pretty good going into the tournament,” Anderson said. “The team decided that we were going to try and make it fun, so I was excited going in.”
“I felt good entering the tournament,” Martin said. “I struggled in the last tournament so I was determined to have a better performance than my last tournament.”
In order to accomplish this amazing feat, the athletes had to keep focus even when they realized the possibility of making the all-tournament team.
“In the last game I shot a 224 and I started to think that could put me in contention for the top five,” Manna said. “I assumed there were going to be a lot of high scores but I was really excited when I found out that I had the highest score because I did not think that was going to happen.”
“After the first game I realized that making the tournament team was a real possibility,” Anderson said. “Then it was the support from the coaches and my teammates that really helped me make this possible.”
“After the first game, I knew I was sitting above most of the girls,” Martin said. “After my second game, my score was still up there so I knew if I shot around my average in the last game that I had a good chance of making the tournament team.”
Even though this was a huge accomplishment for the Patriots, it is not the end goal as they look to continue to build on this performance as they enter the rest of the season.
“In the rest of the season, I want to make sure that we do well as a team at tournaments,” Martin said. “Teamwise I feel like we could be one of the top five teams in the state and my goal is to make it to state individually.”
“For the rest of the season, I think it is really important to stay confident, have fun, and not overthink anything,” Anderson said. “I want to finish out a strong senior year and keep building connections with my teammates and coaches.”
