State Bowling Preview: Triway's Meshew, Yoder get one last crack at winning big
Losing over half of your roster from the previous season can be disastrous to any program.
Not Triway's girls bowling team.
The Titans have been a prime example of the old adage that "tradition doesn't graduate" as they will make a return trip to Columbus this weekend for the OHSAA Division II Championships at HPL Bowling Center.
"It was hard to say, going into the season, how far we could get this year," Triway coach Corby Anderson said. "This team has really grown, especially over the last 5-6 weeks. We went through a stretch of tournament in January to early February where we bowled a tournament every weekend.
"It was grueling but really brought it all together."
Behind the leadership of Addy Meshew and Emma Yoder, the Titans find themselves in a familiar position in the state tournament, despite losing seven of its 11 roster players from a year ago, two of whom were starters.
Both Meshew and Yoder were All-Ohioans last winter, Meshew finishing as state runner-up with the seventh-highest three-game series in state championship history (663, 259-166-238), while Yoder placed ninth overall.
That trend hasn't slowed down this season both bowlers have overall averages over 200, but more important than their production on the lanes has been the veteran guidance they've provided to a roster, most of which is experiencing this state journey for the first time.
"Having the senior leadership of Emma and Addy is probably the biggest reason we are where we are right now," Anderson said of the senior tandem. "The new girls really look up to them and as the season has progressed, it has gotten even more so. It means so much to this team that both of them are the great bowlers and great young ladies that they are."
The trip to state is the fifth in a row for a Triway program that captured the D-II state title in 2022, behind Yoder’s individual championship and Meshew’s top-10 finish. A year ago, the Titans were fifth with Yoder, Meshew and junior Kennedy Finley playing a role.
In all, Meshew has three All-Ohio finishes, while Yoder has a pair of all-state showings, along with an 18th-place finish as a freshman. Yoder’s 210.56 average is best of the team, with Meshew (207.94) not too far behind. Yoder also enters the weekend with the highest game (279) and series (538) score this season.
Along with that experience atop the lineup, it has been the development of the rest of the roster that has Triway keeping their usual late-season plans intact.
Freshman Raya Fiesler (144.87) has been one of those newcomers stepping up, along with junior Dana Armstrong (124.67), both of whom have provided support behind the experience of Yoder, Meshew and Finley (170.59).
“It has been such a great thing to watch this team come together over the last month and a half or so. We really got a lot of much needed experience over this stretch of tournaments.”
The Titans won’t be the only locals competing this weekend as West Holmes’ Hailee North also will take part in the D-II tournament as an individual.
North, a senior who is the first Knight to qualify for the tournament, has been as steady as it gets this winter with a 17 mile-per-hour ball that has helped her produce on a daily basis — one of many reasons why she will be competing against the best of the best in Columbus.
“One of her best characteristics is that her throw is very consistent on each ball she throws,” West Holmes coach Chris Young said. “She also has a lot of power behind her ball, which creates good pin action down the lane.”
At the district tournament last week, North posted an impressive 631 series, including games of 245 and 239 to open the tourney to set the tone for an individual victory.
Now she turns her attention to the state tournament, something she has been working for since the preseason.
“Hailee has bowled all season with her mind on state bowling and always striving to be better,” Young said. “She has done great all season with the high average for the girls and kept consistently keeping that average up.
“When we were at districts, I honestly wasn’t sure where she would place until the very end when they started calling out the girls scores,” he added. “Then it was all smiles from there.”
Defending champ Conotton Valley, Mechanicsburg, Struthers, Napoleon, Lynchburg-Clay and Kenton Ridge all come into the weekend off of district championships and should pace the team standings.
In the individual competition, Napoleon sophomore Arianna Kiessling, who beat Meshew by 11 pins a year ago, is back, along with the St. Paris Graham's Kailey Dowty, who was third.
“We're going into the weekend with thoughts of winning,” Anderson said. “Our key is going to be keeping the new girls from getting too wrapped up in the chaotic state tournament atmosphere. It can definitely get crazy. The more we can concentrate on just doing what we do, just making one shot at a time and making our spares, the further we will get.
“I'm feeling good things from these girls.”
This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: Girls Bowling: Triway girls back on the big stage
