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After helping Celina win the Division I state title, Ryann Eckhardt will join teammates this weekend in Columbus at the USHSBF Nationals.
After the Celina girls bowling team competed in the United States High School Bowling Federation's national tournament last year, more teams wanted to get into the act.
The Celina girls, the Division I state champions this past spring, return to the championships, which will be held starting Saturday at Columbus Square Palace Bowl in Columbus.
The Bulldog ladies will be joined by the Celina boys and Coldwater boys teams, joining a dozen other teams from Ohio along with teams from 18 other states from Alaska to Florida.
To be eligible, teams and individual bowlers must have competed in their states' respective state high school tournaments.
The Celina girls got the chance to go last year when the tournament was in Fort Wayne. So, with this year's success, it was not hard to talk the team into going again.
"All these girls competed in the tournament last year when it was in Fort Wayne," said Celina girls coach Josh Goff. "When they had found out they had the opportunity to go, they probably were excited."
One Celina girl will be unable to compete in the team competition, though. Brynly Huber is in Mansfield this week competing in the Miss Ohio's Teen Competition. Goff said that she may come down Sunday to compete in the individual tournament.
Lucas Gray and his Celina teammates will join the girls team in competing in nationals this weekend.
The Celina boys, who reached the state tournament this year, will join their teammates in competing.
"Kind of selfishly, I really like the opportunity to be practicing halfway into the summer," said Celina boys coach Brian Shannon. "To keep the group of boys that I have bowling together, keep that camaraderie going to try to roll it through the summer into the fall, and then when we start back up in the winter."
Both Goff and Shannon are glad the full Celina contingent will be represented this year.
"It's nice to have the boys coming as well," said Goff. "It just really shows how strong just our program is as a whole and the work that everybody's done from our youth leagues up through our junior high program."
"The good thing is girls bowl early in the day so the boys will be there and we'll be able to root them on," said Shannon. "Then the boys bowl at 2 p.m. so the girls will be still there to cheer them on, root them on. The whole bowling program for Celina will be there rooting each other on."
Coldwater's Braylon Brown will compete for the Cavaliers this weekend in the USHSBF Nationals in Columbus.
Coldwater, a four-time state champion and a regular in the state tournament, will get the chance to compete this year for the first time.
"We've known about it for years but we really never had anybody really wanting to do it," said Coldwater coach Rick Hartings. "(This year) we have a crew of boys that are all about the same age. They brought it up last spring about doing it."
Initially, it looked like Coldwater would be shut out as the team tournament was filled.
"We were lucky we kind of signed up late and they were full," said Hartings. "But a couple of teams from New York had to back out so we kind of snuck in. So yeah, the kids are pretty excited about it."
Last year, Celina drove up both days. This year, thanks to the Celina Eagles and Veterans of Foreign Wars, the team will be staying in Columbus and sporting new uniforms.
"The Eagles and the VFW came together and donated everything for us to get new jerseys, hotel food and everything for down there," said Goff.
Unfortunately for Hartings, he'll have to rely on longtime assistant coach Kyle Bruns to get updates on the Cavaliers, as he will be back home celebrating the birthday of his first grandchild on Saturday.
"I totally never even thought about it, but I'm organizing it. I got them signed up and got the hotels lined up," said Hartings.
Qualifying begins Saturday morning at 9 a.m. with one boys group and all girls qualifying. Boys qualifying will start at 2 p.m. Championship rounds will be Saturday evening. The individual tournament, open to all eligible bowlers, takes place Sunday.
