The first Unified Bowling practice was on Tuesday, Oct. 21 at Sun Valley Lanes. Their first meet was on Tuesday, Oct. 28 at 4 p.m. against Lincoln East at Parkway Lanes. Teams get pre-packaged snacks at the meets. All of the meets were held at Sun Valley Lanes and Parkway Lanes throughout the season. The season lasted eight weeks. There were four duals in the regular season before HAC (Heartland Athletic Conference). The last meet before HAC was on Thursday, Nov. 24 against Lincoln Northwest at Sun Valley Lanes.The season started on Tuesday, Oct. 28 and ended on Monday, Dec. 8 with the state meet.
“The teams stay the same throughout the season and we got better throughout the season by practicing and working as a team,” junior Dathin Cooper said. “I joined bowling because I like to bowl. It is fun because I get to see all my coaches and partners and you get to see everyone work together, which is amazing.”
Each team has their own cheers that they came up with that they do at practices and meets. They also have specific cheers for when they get things like spares and strikes. The teams all ride on the bus together to the meets from the school. On bus rides students like to listen to music and sing songs.
‘’The cheer that our team stuck with throughout the season was ‘Boom-Boom strike and Boom-Boom spare.’ Once we got to Districts we did that cheer for whatever number we got so if we bowled an eight we would say ‘Boom Boom Eight,’’’ junior Emily Auten said. “I feel great about winning Districts because everyone worked together as a team and everyone put in the effort to get us there.’’
On Monday, Nov. 24, Southwest took one team to HAC at 10 a.m. at Sun Valley Lanes. HAC led to a victory of 6-7-7. On Wednesday, Dec. 3, Lincoln Southwest took one team to the NSAA Districts at Sun Valley Lanes.The team took first place at Districts to continue on to State. This was the first year that Lincoln Southwest won first place at the NSAA District Unified Bowling meet. Lincoln Southwest took one team to the NSAA State tournament on Monday, Dec. 8 at Sun Valley Lanes.
“Our team came up with our own cheers to do at the meets. My favorite part of the bus rides is listening to music and talking to everyone,” Cooper said. “It felt awesome to win Districts, I think we should do it again next year, and try to win state too. My favorite part of state was the pizza party we had.”