After a lackluster 2017-18 season, the Ranger bowling team will be looking to build up some momentum for future teams with a successful season this year – possibly even win the first Conference Championship for bowling at FHC.

While the team is full of newcomers, there are five returning members—all of which were strong contributors last year.  Juniors Ben Kastner, Alex Souza, and Shane Hubble will be leading the boys team, while lone returning seniors Sydney Payne and Zoey Guikema will be leading the girls. The strong returners will be a huge advantage for the Rangers, as good bowlers with competitive bowling experience at the high school level don’t come often.

This year, solid prospects with good potential make up a majority of the team. Juniors Jake Laidlaw and Ryan Andrews are hoping to make an immediate impact on the team.

“As a first-year bowler, the lack of seniors makes it tough,” Ryan said. “However, I think we have some good young talent.”

Throughout this season, a big indicator of how this season will go is the development of the newcomers. If the boys can get five bowlers who can consistently score well, the season will be a success. However, with only three returning guys, two of the five are going to have to be rookies. Head coach Grant Vermeer and assistant Tim McKeeby will need to coach the young guys up in order to find success. Luckily, early practices are going well so far.

“We have a handful of new prospects that are looking very promising,” Vermeer said. “Just in these first few weeks, we have made a lot of progress and I couldn’t be more excited for the upcoming season.”

The girls team, on the other hand, is completely made up of seniors. While not all of them have been on the bowling team before, the maturity of the seniors will help.

This year, both teams will be looking to beat some of their rivals, and most importantly, win the conference title: something that has never been done before.

“One of our goals this year is to start the season off strong with a win over Northern in our first match,” Zoey said.

Speaking of that match, the bowling team begins its season facing off against the Huskies on Dec. 5. The Huskies are always a tough opponent and that shouldn’t be any different this year. A win to start the season would be a huge momentum builder for Vermeer and his crew.