Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
Serving the Big Horn Basin for over 100 years
The 2016 Women's National Bowling Sapphire Division champions the Wyoming Wild Bunch. Pictured are (left to right) Ella Parker, Hope Mead, Jessica Slagle and Shawna Baumeister.
THERMOPOLIS - The Wyoming Wild Bunch women's bowling team traveled to Las Vegas for the Women's National Championship and earned the tournament's top prize
While the purpose was bowling, team members, and mostly Thermopolis residents, Hope Mead, Shawna Baumeister (who moved to Stillwater, Oklahoma in the summer), Jessica Slagle and Ella Parker wanted to have fun during their trip to Las Vegas.
"We flew into Vegas, then drove to California and spent two days there before the competition," said Ella Parker. "We went to the Santa Monica Pier and Grauman's Chinese Theater, we were just tourists for the while trip. We were there to have fun and weren't expecting to do as well as we did."
The Women's National Championship begins in April then goes to the end of July. With over 20,000 women competing in teams, doubles and singles and separated into 12 divisions, competitors select dates within the competition time frame to bowl their three games. After throwing their games the bowlers wait to see if their scores held.
The Wild Bunch competed in the Sapphire division with 147 other teams. They scored a 623, 632 and 647 for a grand total of 1,902, which were 12 pins better than second-place finisher. Along with being crowned national champions the team split a $5,000 reward.
With an event that large it would fall within reason to have an eye on the competition but for Parker and her teammates they were out to have fun and make memories. "We always have a good time together and we don't worry about going against the other bowlers. Actually, when the man, who was dressed in a nice suit, came to tell us that we had pulled into first place, we all thought we were in trouble. We were having a good time and probably being a little rowdy and thought he's coming to tell us to calm down. Instead, he told us that we were in the lead which was pretty exciting," said Parker.
"As a team we won $5,000 which ended up being $1,250 each. So when that check arrived in the mail, like wow, I'll have to pay taxes on this but still pretty awesome," said Parker.
Parker wanted to thank the team sponsors Messenger and Overfield P.C. out of Thermopolis and Phillips and Co. of Casper. Next year the Women's National Championship will be hosted in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, for which Parker already has her team registered and ready for more fun times.
