Photo - Graves County Athletics Facebook Page
With the announcement Tuesday that Hopkinsville and Christian County plan to begin competition in bowling with the 2022-2023 school year, the number of teams participating in the sport in the western part of the state now climbs to nearly twenty schools. The two schools would become the first in the southern part of the Pennyrile to compete in the sport but might open the doors to others to make a similar decision.
According to the latest from the KHSAA website, if placed in Region 1, Christian County and Hopkinsville would bring the number of schools participating in bowling in the region to 19.
Others already taking part in the sport are Apollo, Barren County, Bowling Green, Community Christian (Paducah), Daviess County, Graves County, Greenwood, Henderson County, McCracken County, Metcalfe County, Ohio County, Owensboro, Owensboro Catholic, Paducah Tilghman, South Warren, Warren Central, and Warren East.
The decision by the two Christian County schools might entice some other schools in the area to look at the sport, now that there could be the chance to compete without having to travel to Paducah, Henderson, Owensboro, and Bowling Green to find opponents.
With bowling centers in Princeton and Madisonville, the addition of the sport by Christian County and Hopkinsville, and ultimately Hopkinsville-Christian County Academy, might make the sport a bit more attractive to schools such as Caldwell County, Lyon County, Hopkins County Central, Madisonville-North Hopkins, Fort Campbell, and Muhlenberg County.
Graves County and McCracken County sent boys teams to the 2022 state tournament, while Graves County won the girls’ team state championship.
