SMYRNA – Jenna Hedgepath closed her final season with the Lipscomb Academy bowling season with another honor.
She helped the Mustangs win the boys’ bowling team’s first Division II championship, along with her two girls’ individual championships and a girls’ team championship.
Hedgepath, a Vanderbilt signer, won her second girls’ DII title on Wednesday before playing a key role in Lipscomb’s 15-8 victory over Pope John Paul II at the Smyrna Bowling Center on Friday.
“I didn’t know how this season would go,” said Hedgepath, who threw a 237 in her only US 10-pin game. “This was our school’s first season that we co-ed. I’m the only girl starter on the team.
“In the beginning it took a minute for us to form together (this season). But in the end we made it.”
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The TSSAA changed the format of the team tournament this year so that all teams play one 10-pin game where players compete against an opponent. Then they bowl five Bakers games in which players play one game together. Bowlers in this lineup bowl two frames per game.
Hedgepath, who was reclassified in three years to graduate from high school, has also finished second individually and was part of a runner-up girls’ team in 2021.
“She added a lot of experience and constantly pushed us and made us better bowlers every day,” said Lipscomb freshman Houston Fulks.
In the Division II Girls Championship, Friendship overtook Christian Boyd Buchanan with a 20-3 for the Lady Commanders’ third championship in four years. Junior Olivia VanHoosier, who was the 2019 DII girls individual champion in her eighth grade, led Friendship and threw 220 in the US 10-pin game.
VanHooser said it was uplifting this season to have fans back at the championships a year after none were allowed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“People from our school showed up — like some soccer players, which is great for our school. It was just great to have them join us in our chants and cheer us on,” said VanHooser. “State is not a state without the fans.”
In Division I, Hardin County won the Boys’ and Girls’ Championships.
The Hardin County girls defeated Creek Wood 13-10 to win by a total of 2,006 pins – 100 more than Creek Wood. It marked the program’s ninth consecutive girls’ championship and 13th overall.
“It was tough, you could see Creek Wood coming out and having plans to rip us off,” said Hardin County girls’ coach Jennifer Channell. “It came down to the last game. That’s the best game we’ve had in a long time.”
Hardin County won the American 10-pin round 6-0 and 170 pins, but Creek Wood won the first four Bakers games before the Lady Tigers won the last game to secure the win.
“When you come in against a team that has won consecutive championships, you have to come in with a different vibe,” said Creek Wood co-coach Cassie Wright. “Our ladies came back 170 pin and eight points behind and won four baker’s duels in a row.
“They needed that fifth Bakers game.”
The Hardin County boys defeated Smyrna 14-9 for the third straight and fourth in five years.
“It felt like we were in a dogfight,” said Hardin County coach David Channell, Jennifer’s husband. “I think the boys and girls started so well, but anything can happen in that Bakers game.