The Española Valley High School bowling team rarely gets home lane advantage.
Most weekends, the Sundevils travel to Albuquerque to compete in the area where most high school bowling teams are congregated.
That all changed, though, on Dec. 9, as the weekend’s New Mexico high school bowling tournament was hosted at Big Rock Bowling, inside the Santa Claran Hotel and Casino.
The Sundevils competed against teams from throughout the three bowling divisions — 1A-4A, 5A and 6A.
Three Española teams competed in three brackets of the tournament: the rookie bracket, the intermediate bracket and the advanced bracket.
The rookie team ended up taking second place in its bracket, while the intermediate team placed fifth and the advanced team took sixth.
The advanced team will most likely comprise the team that competes in the state tournament, and they finished behind one other 5A team at the meet, Artesia High School.
Last season, Artesia knocked Española out of the playoffs in the quarterfinals, before going on to win the state championship.
Artesia is still the top dog, outscoring the Española team 3,105 points to 2,748 points at Big Rock Bowling.
“We should definitely get into the quarterfinals, because there are four good teams, I think,” Española head coach Ruben Aguilar said. “Artesia is the top right now, and then Farmington, Piedra Vista and Española are pretty even … But you never know what is going to happen.”
Among the advanced team, the highest scorer on the day was sophomore Autumn Vigil, also the only female member of the team.
Aguilar called her the “most consistent” bowler on the team. At the end of two games, she bowled a 362. She was followed closely by Daniel Zelic, who bowled a 344.
Rio Rancho High School, which had two advanced teams, swept the two top spots at the tournament. Deo Bernard, on Rio Rancho’s top team, had the highest score of any bowler at the tournament, coming in with a two-game score of 522.
Despite getting sixth in this tournament, the Sundevils are still optimistic that a state championship could land in their hands, given a hot streak at the state tournament.
“We’ve got the team together, and all of the chemistry and all that,” Zelic said.
Both Zelic and Vigil were key members of the team last year, and they will bowl alongside three-year veteran Joshua Martinez, freshman Terrance Sanchez and Fabian Montoya.
The Sundevils are still early in the bowling season. This was the first competition that they fielded a team in the advanced bracket, and there are six more tournaments until the state competition, which will be held in Albuquerque in February.
“Hopefully (we will win the state championship), that’s what we’re going for,” Vigil said.