SPORTS
High schools
It's official: Bowling gets OHSAA's OK Sport is sanctioned for 2006-07 season 4/7/0(:,
By T~m Croeschen Enquirer staff writer
Bowling has enjoyed a resurgence in recent years, and Thursday it joined the list ofOhio High School Athletic Association varsity sports. The 0 HSAA Board of Control voted 6-0 to add both boys' and girls' bowling for the 2006-07¡ school year, as the sport has met state regulations that require a 150-school minimum to become sanctioned. The OHSAA lists about 160 boys' and girls' varsity teams in Ohio, including about 45 boys' teams and 45 girls' teams in the Cincinnati area. Michelle Ostrowski, an Oak Hills junior who finished fourth in this year's (non-OHSAA) state girls' tournament, said she and her teammates appreciate the state recognition. 'The great thing is, I saw an article online once where someone said we parade around in our bowling jackets and pretend we're a varsity sport," Ostrowski said. "Now we can parade around and say we are a varsity sport." Jim Robb, who coaches Seton, was thrilled by the OHSAA vote. Robb also coaches soccer at Westem Hills High School. and while there he has gained appreciation of bowling's storied past in Cincinnati. "I look on the wall of honor and see a lot of photos of people who bowled for West High a long time ago," Robb said. "Bowling was huge back in the day, so I thinkitisgreatit has come back." Cincinnati has produced numerous great bowlers, including Eddie Jackson apd Steve Fehr. In the local heyday. that stretched into the 1980s, there was a must-see Sunday TV event in Cincinnati called "BPA King of TV Bowling." The state's high school bowling coaches have staged their own state tournament since 2001. For 2006, Oak Hills was the top local girls' state finisher (second) and La Salle the top local boys' team (sixth). Fr. Paul Gebhardt, who coaches La Salle, said the OHSAA recognition is important. 'These kids deserve the same recognition that other high school sports get," Fr. Gebhardt said. Bowling will be a winter sport, and the schools all will compete in one classification (one for boys, one for girls). The state tournament will be held around the first week of March, with the site to be announced. "This is somPthinP" that miP"ht be
High school sports Bowling is the newest OHSAAsponsored sport, approved in a vote Thursday by u-e OHSAA Board of Control. The list of sanctioned and non-recognized school-sponsored sports:
OHSAA-sanctioned sports Fall: Cross country, field hockey (G), football (B), golf, soccer, tennis (G), vollleyball (G) Winter: Basketball, bowling*, gymnastics (GJ, ice hockey (B), swimming/diving, wrestling (B) Spring: Baseball (B), fast-pitch softball (G), tennis (B), track
OHSAA non-recognized sports Crew, indoor track, lacrosse, power lifting, slow-pitch softball (G), volleyball (B), wafer polo (8-boys. G-girlsl 'Bowling to be added as an OHSAA sport for the 2006-07 season.
really special for some of these kids," said Hank Zabomiak, an OHSAA assistant COITIIlllSSioner. 'There are some kids who maybe won't do anything else sports-wise for their school, and this gives them the opportunity to ... represent their school." This is the first time the OHSAA has added a sport since 1993, when girls' golf became sanctioned. The OHSAA now has 24 sanctioned sports - 12 for boys and 12 for girls. The OHSM does not anticipate adding any other sports soon, Zabomiak said. He said the next closest to the 150-school minimum is boys' volleyball, with about 95 schools. Some OHSAA-sanctioned sports such as gymnastics (138 schools), ice hockey {83) and field hockey (36) fall shor1 of the current minimum. But those already were OHSAA sports and thus "grandfathered in" when the OHSAA adopted its 150-school requirement in 1991. E-mail tgroeschen@enquirer.com.