MADISON COUNTY — The 2012-13 Kentucky high school bowling season culminated with the KHSAA state tournament at the Executive Lanes in Louisville on Feb. 7 and 8.

Crystal Land, a junior at Bryan Station, won the girl’s singles title with a 233-195 win over Scott County freshman Sarah Doyle in the final game.

The boy’s singles championship went to Keifer Hillerich, a senior at Louisville Manual, who beat teammate Kyle Abell 222-210 in the last game.

Taylor County won the girl’s team title by downing Pleasure Ridge Park 3-1 in the Baker style finals, while Simon Kenton won the boy’s team title with a 3-2 win over PRP.

This is an appropriate time to provide a brief review of the past season for the Madison Southern and Madison Central bowling teams and preview next season for the local schools.

Although there were many good games bowled by members of the local teams at the Region 8 tournament, no local individual or team made it to the regional finals or the state tournament.

Southern’s Rebecca Sowder placed highest among the local bowlers as she was eighth after the first three games and qualified for the semi-finals in girl’s singles. She scored well in her two semi-final games and moved up in the rankings, but fell just five pins short of making the regional finals and qualifying for the state tournament.

Coach Margaret Tilsley’s Southern girls are positioned for a run at the regional title and placing individuals in the finals next season as Sowder and the rest of this season’s team is returning.

Those returning include Megan Faught, Ciara Plants, Shania Wilmot, Heather Long and Jodeci Collins. Faught, Plants and Wilmot finished among the top 27 positions among the 48 competitors in the regional tournament.

The Southern girls qualified for the fourth seed in the Baker style tournament, but lost in the quarter-final round.

The Southern boys, however, face a major rebuilding task. The four boys who have been the heart of the boy’s team — Brian Ford, Caleb Holbrook, Jared Long and Dakota Megyesi — will graduate this spring.

These four were the leaders of the team during the two years that the KHSAA has sponsored bowling as a sanctioned sport and prior to that when Southern was participating in the club-level Horse Capital Conference.

Holbrook finished in a tie for 12th place in boy’s singles at the regional tournament with a 571 series which included a 221 game. High games were also bowled by Ford (204) and Long (197).

Coach Randy Burgess will have a very young team as the oldest returning team member is freshman Zeb Davis. The other returnees are middle school students — Robert Buckman, Hunter Megyesi, John Richmond and Derrick Richmond. Additional bowlers must be recruited.

By contrast, the Central boy’s team has all its members returning including freshman Adam Cromer who placed 12th in boy’s singles and sixth-grader Daelyn White who anchored Central’s Baker team. Cromer bowled a 207 game and White a 195 game at the regional tournament.

Coach Mark Harrison’s 2013-14 team will include Josh Maynard, Grant Willoughby, Antonio Thrash, Elijah Vaughn, Blake Jackson and Thomas Speakman.

“I am excited about next season” Harrison, said. “Our boys were much improved at the end of the season and they did well at the regional meet, although they could have done even better.”

“Some of our boys have the potential to make the regional finals next year,” Harrison  added.

Madison Central put a girl’s team on the lanes for the first time this season. The squad included three seniors  — Kat Hoover, Brittany Hurst and Kristina Dryagin.

Those returning for Coach Johnny Harrison’s team include Kaylee Speakman who placed 13th and Debborah Harrison who finished 20th at the regional meet.

Elzabeth Rodgers, Danielle Harrison and Nicki Vickery are also expected to be back next year. These girls should be improved after a year of experience.

Next season should be an exciting one for the local high school bowling teams.