Corbin bowler finishes season 10th in the state

Josie Philpot’s teammates support her at Thursday’s KHSAA state championships

The top high school bowlers in the state came together Thursday, February 12 at the Collins-Eastland Bowling Center in Lexington for this year’s KHSAA individual state bowling championships. Representing Corbin High School was 15-year-old freshman Josie Philpot, who qualified for state after finishing in third place at the Region 8 meet this past weekend.

Philpot made a strong showing Thursday, finishing the day as the state’s tenth best female high school bowler, and missing out on a chance to bowl for a championship by just ten pins.

Thirty-two competitors started out the day hopeful of becoming a state champion, but only eight would qualify past the first round of play after bowling three games each while in groups of four. From there, bowlers with the top combined scores would advance, while everyone else would see their seasons come to an end.

Philpot’s group happened to include former state champion Sarah Doyle (Scott Co), who was determined to bring home another state title in 2015. In game one, she bowled a 226, with Philpot finishing behind her at 166. In game two, Doyle was nearly perfect, finishing with an impressive score of 289. Philpot was able to better herself as well, finishing with a 189. The third game was much closer, with Doyle only getting the better of Philpot 248-210.

After the first round of play concluded, everyone in attendance waited anxiously to learn who would be moving on, and who wouldn’t. Unfortunately for Philpot and the Rollin’ Redhounds supporters in attendance, her final score of 565 put her in tenth place overall, which meant that her day, and her season, was done.

“I went out there and did my best,” said Philpot after the competition. “That’s all I could do. I truly believe that God brought me here to shine His light on this stage, and if it was His will I would’ve went on, but this obviously wasn’t my day.”

“The nerves got to me a little bit,” Philpot said when asked to describe the experience of contending for a state championship. “The environment was hectic. I had to overcome that, but overall I feel like I did a good job. I’m coming back next year, though. I’m here to win it, and there isn’t anything that is going to stop me.”

During the competition, Corbin girls bowling Head Coach Pat Venable talked about what it was like for her to see her young bowler competing at such a high level. “I’m so excited for her,” she said. “The team is here today also, and they have all made signs to support her. This is just an awesome feeling.”

Kenny Kysar, who coaches bowling at Corbin along with Venable, was with Philpot during the course of the competition, offering instruction and words of encouragement before, during, and after each of her three games. He said, “I thought she was going to make it, but unfortunately we were ten pins shy. It’s a tough break. That’s just how bowling is, though. Josie has a lot of class, she is a very mature, young bowler, and I am very much looking forward to being back here again next year.”

Philpot ended up trailing Pleasure Ridge Park’s Keelyn Cox, who ended the day in the nine spot with a total score of 570. Sabrina Spillman of Lafayette rounded out the top eight with a score of 575. When all was said and done, Sarah Doyle was able to achieve her goal of another individual state title, defeating Garrard County’s Courtney Woolridge 246-237 to become the 2015 KHSAA state champion.