Greenwood’s Willis wins region title, teammate Sprowles qualifies for state
By Perry Swack
The region’s best bowlers descended upon Cardinal Lanes in Paducah last weekend for the 1st Region Championship. After just missing a chance at the finals (known as the stepladder) in 2022, Greenwood’s Ayden Sprowles was hungry to clinch his berth to the state championship in Jeffersontown. After the first three games, Sprowles found himself in first, and in second place after the semifinal round. Goal accomplished. A trip to the state meet. However, the Gator senior first had his sights set on a region championship.
Standing in his way was teammate and co-worker at Southern Lanes, Isaiah Willis. Willis burst onto the scene as a freshman and qualified for both the semifinals (final eight) and the stepladder (final four) this year after tying for 27th at the region championships last season. Qualifying as the four-seed in the stepladder, expectations may have been low for Willis. But it didn’t faze him as he defeated Austin Lander (202-195) of Henderson County before knocking out his teammate Sprowles (215-184) and reaching the region title match. In the final, Willis faced off with McCracken County’s Elliot Wilson – the 2021 region champ. Bowling with a hot hand, Willis easily took the match, 219-176, to become Greenwood’s first region bowling champion.
Willis and Sprowles are Greenwood’s first bowlers to reach the state championships. Coach Joe Foust had the highest praise for his two bowlers. “Isaiah Willis and Ayden Sprowles have both made big leaps over the last couple of years. Ayden is a senior this year and I have watched him get better with each year. He became my leader last year and he really took to it this year. He has become ‘Mr. Consistency’ and his bad nights are better than most bowlers.” With this in mind, the two Gator bowlers will now focus their efforts on the state bowling championship which takes place over the course of two days (February 7-8) at Kingpin Lanes in Jeffersontown. Foust believes his stars can compete with anyone in the state. “Both Ayden and Isaiah should bowl really well at state and have a legitimate chance to win,” he said. “They just need to make sure that they don’t allow the moment to become too big for them. I’m sure there will be some nerves.” The boys’ singles event will be held on Tuesday, February 7.
As for the girls’ singles event, the only area bowler that qualified for the state tournament was Warren East’s Rylee Carter. Carter bowled a five-game total of 867 to qualify for the stepladder and the state championships. She will bowl on Wednesday, February 8.
