Nearly every weekday, a group of 11 girls gather after school in the Anacortes High cafeteria. Instead of waiting for rides back home, they fold the lunch tables and move them away to create the only “bowling alley” in the area.
Before October 2020, Anacortes had a bowling alley within city limits that had opened in 1904. The community’s rich bowling history spilled into Anacortes High School when it founded a girls bowling team around 2000.
But San Juan Lanes closed in October 2020, leaving the Seahawks as the only team in the conference without an alley in their town.
“I bowled in leagues at [San Juan Lanes] so it was devastating to see it close as a coach and a league bowler,” Anacortes High bowling coach Teresa Syms said. “Without a bowling alley, how could you have a bowling team? It definitely crossed my mind.”
The San Juan Lanes lot remains empty after the previous buyer tore half of it down and tried to convert it into storage units. Syms was afraid of what would happen next. Erik Titus, the former athletic director, was determined to keep a girls bowling team at the school.
“(Erik Titus) didn’t want to give up and we were willing to find out how to keep it,” Syms said.
During the 2021 season, Syms borrowed a few carpet lanes from the Skagit Valley United States Bowling Congress and began setting up her own “bowling alley” in the high school cafeteria after school. She had one bowler compete in a six-week season. In the next season, the team had more than 10 bowlers.
After a couple of seasons, she returned those carpet lanes and got used ones from Evergreen Lanes in Everett.
When school gets out at 2:45 p.m., bowlers have the opportunity to work on homework and participate in a club until 3:30 p.m. Once that time arrives, the team enters the cafeteria, tears down the lunch tables and sets up the lanes and other drills.
Despite the odds, the Seahawks have made it to state the past two seasons. Last year, one bowler finished 26th in the state, and another 50th.
“That is what’s awesome,” Syms said. “It is exciting to see we don’t have a bowling alley but we can still make it work.”
Senior bowler Morgan Gudmundson said she was outraged when San Juan Lanes closed down.
“I had a lot of memories there and I cannot say this is a close second,” she said of the team’s cafeteria workaround. “It does give us a good advantage because it helps us focus on our form.”
Syms typically sets up around five individual drills and the bowlers partner up and take turns for a certain amount of time. Then, the bowlers rotate until they finish all the drills and complete practice around 4:30–5 p.m.
The first drill consists of a 40-foot carpet lane with 4-pound rubber bowling balls and plastic pins to get a feel of bowling in an alley. Second, the bowlers practice their form with a pin-shaped weight that helps them follow through straight.
Next, bowlers use a ball about the same size as a baseball with holes in it. Bowlers can use it to see their rotation of the ball. New bowlers also practice with a clock worksheet to learn how to position their hands and fingers before releasing the ball. Lastly, the girls who have their own balls can roll them on carpet tiles to observe the path and if they have proper follow through.
“It was very new and weird to me at first,” senior bowler Laney Brown said. “I walked in and was not expecting it. It has made my spin and how I move better. I wouldn’t know what to do if I wasn’t here.”
The Anacortes High bowling team also goes to Riverside Lanes in Mount Vernon on Wednesdays to practice and host their home matches. Riverside Lanes is the closest alley to the high school, 3 miles closer than Oak Harbor’s Oak Bowl and Mario’s Pizza. The Seahawks bowling team has driven the 30 minutes to Riverside Lanes since 2021; Syms knows the manager of the alley.
Syms said Riverside Lanes helps her teach the bowlers who have bowled in the cafeteria for their entire high school career how to knock down spares and other skills only a lane can provide.
“It is tough because I wanted to be on the lanes every day as a freshman,” senior bowler Trinity Erickson said. “We live far away and I understand that now.”
The Seahawks hope to finish this season as the top team in the district or have one of the top three individuals not on the winning team so they can advance to state once again.
Nick Zeller-Singh is CDN's sports reporter; reach him at nickzellersingh@cascadiadaily.com; 360-922-3090 ext. 104.
