Staff report
Sidney High senior bowler Heather Gold was in Columbus Thursday at Wayne Webb’s Columbus Bowl, preparing to compete in the State Bowling Tournament, which takes place for Division 1 girls on Friday.
Gold became the first Sidney girl to qualify for the state tournament since the 2013 season and she did so by rolling a 586 series last week in district action, with games of 190, 216 and 180. That placed her sixth.
“I think Heather is rolling the ball probably as well as anybody,” said her coach, Trent Knoop. “She has a strong mental game and has a very good spare game, and that continues. She did that at districts.”
Gold and her coach have a goal they are shooting for. The top six bowlers are considered first-team All-Ohio, the next six second team and the next six after that third team.
“She actually placed sixth in both the sectional and the district,” Knoop said. “She would like to get first team All-Ohio. But it’s like I told her, she has to make quality shots and let her shots do the talking for her.”
Knoop said Gold’s strongest quality is her preparation.
“Both mentally and physically, she has very good preparation,” he said. “And she does a great job in offseason tournaments. She bowls a lot in JTPA tournaments and Future Stars tournaments, and both of those take her all all over Ohio. She will do that both before and after the season.”
Knoop said tournament officials will have the oil down on the lanes today, so Gold will have a pretty good idea of what to expect when she competes on Friday.
