GPS's Maynord wins state bowling title

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Girls Preparatory School already has one state bowling championship from this year's tournament at Smyrna, Tenn.

All the Bruisers want in on the fun today.

GPS senior Kara Maynord made up a 120-pin deficit from the semifinals in the final round Friday morning of the Division II individual tournament and became the first Chattanooga-area female to win an individual TSSAA bowling title.

Then the Bruisers belted Pope John Paul II 25-2 in the team quarterfinals, when McCallie also won in Division II and both Soddy-Daisy teams won in Division I. The Trojans and Lady Trojans both won 18-9, in fact, over the Dobyns-Bennett boys and Wilson Central girls, and McCallie edged Lausanne 15-12.

GPS (21-0) edged Soddy-Daisy by two pins in a regular-season match, but Friday the Lady Trojans totaled 3,075 pins as the highest girls' team score. The Bruisers face defending state champion St. Agnes in the semifinals this morning, when the two-loss Lady Trojans take on undefeated Collierville, the Trojans meet Hardin County's boys in a matchup of unbeatens and McCallie's Blue Tornado meet Donelson Christian Academy.

"We intend to bring home the team trophy, too," GPS coach Jenise Gordon said.

"We're going to win," said Maynord, who took the individual trophy as the sixth of sixth finalists in her division.

Starting with a 599 semifinal pinfall, compared to 719 for leader and two-time defending champion Melinda Mott of Ensworth, Maynord went 4-0-1 in the round-robin part of the individual finals, tying Mott. She had a 219 game in beating St. Benedict's Angela Vick, who had the state's best average for the season but finished third Friday.

Maynord totaled enough pins and bonus points to face Mott again in the two-versus-one showdown and won it.

"When you go up against Miranda, you can do one of two things," Gordon said. "You can either get nervous and give up or give her a game, and Kara came out relaxed and bowled like she was just practicing for the team event.

"They both bowled great games, but everybody on our end of the floor was amazed at how calm Kara was. She was fabulous. She bowled all day like I think she has been able to bowl the last two years."

Maynord acknowledged that her focus on the team's success and her sixth-out-of-six position going into the finals helped her be relaxed.

"I didn't have anything to lose. In the sixth position, I could only move up," she said. "And I didn't have one game where I really dropped off."

She had a 218 as the Bruisers' best game against Pope John Paul II, when "across the board" teams weren't making spares they usually make.

Kylee Saunders and Ciara Long had series of 582 and 566, including a 218 game for Saunders, to lead the Lady Trojans, who got a 203 from Shelby McLitus. Allyn Pickett led the Trojans with a 632 series, including a 224, and Tanner Johnson rolled a 603 while Cody Hunter's 257 was their best game.

McCallie's Evan Speicher had a 607 series with a 234 game, and Daniel Stone bowled a 247 in the decisive third game.