The Augustana Observer sat down with freshman bowler, Taylor Kies, to discuss her success at Sectionals. Kies received twelfth in the over all tournament.
1. How do you feel you did at sectionals?
I feel like I did well considering my average. I was over my average by about 20 pins. I ended up with a 1245 series which is a 207 average. I wasn’t expecting to bowl that well, and this was my highest series this season.
2. What do you think you can improve upon?
I could definitely work on my spares more. They are the most important part of bowling so you can never practice them too much. I also need to practice adjusting as the lanes break down.
3. What do you believe contributed to your success throughout the season?
Definitely my coach, Marty Resner, and my teammates. As a team, we help each other as we are bowling and try to keep each other’s spirits up. Our coach helps us as well and gives us specific things to work on in practice based on how we do at tournaments. I also have my parents to thank. They have supported my bowling since I was 7 years old and continued to come to almost every tournament this season.
4. Coming to Augie, was bowling an important aspect?
It was something I really wanted to do in college and all of the colleges I applied to had bowling teams. My bowling coach in high school was the one who actually told me about Augie. School does come first though, so its a plus that I get to attend a great school like Augustana and still get to bowl.
5. What were the team goals at the beginning of the season?
I know we wanted to try and get our team average up to about 160-170. I believe our team average overall was around 163.
6. How did those goals change as the season went on?
Most of our goals stayed the same. We all had individual goals as well and those changed a little more than our team goals.
7. The team is very new and very young. Do you see that as a positive or negative, why?
I think on one hand, it’s a positive because we get to make the team what we want it to be and we have 4 years with almost all the same girls plus new girls each year to improve our games. On the other hand, it can be a disadvantage during tournaments when other teams have juniors and seniors that have bowled on sport shot patterns, which is the oil on the lanes, for a few more years. As we continue as a team though, that wont be the case.
8. Where do you see the team 3 years from now?
Hopefully in three years we will be part of a conference. We also only have 5 girls right now which is the minimum so hopefully in three years we will have more, maybe even enough for a jv team. I also think our averages will be higher in three years, and we could place in some tournaments, maybe go to sectionals as a team.
9. What do you believe the team can improve upon to accomplish that goal?
We definitely need to work on spares and get used to bowling on sport shot more. We could also incorporate more drills at practice.
10. Now that the season is over, will you and the team be doing anything in preparation for next year?
We plan on practicing together in the off season. We will also have get togethers next year before season to get to know some of the new girls. We also have pre-season work out sessions. A lot of the girls also do sport shot leagues over the summer, which will help greatly.
Taylor Kies. Photo by Kevin Donovan.