James Clemens bowling advances to State Tournament seeded No. 1
The James Clemens bowling team display their winning hardware for their performances at the North Regional Bowling Tournament as both squads have advanced to the AHSAA State Tournament. Photo- Kristin Hartland, head coach
TRUSSVILLE – There’s no better feeling for an athlete than knowing you’re at the top of your sport especially going into what is a championship title run. That’s just the case for the James Clemens bowling team as its boys squad is seeded No. 1 headed into the AHSAA State Tournament scheduled to be held in Mobile.
The seeding comes from the Jets winning the North Regional Tournament in almost domination style while the girls from James Clemens took second place in the Regional and earned a spot among the state’s best eight teams in the final event of the 2025-2026 season. The Lady Jets finished third at the 2025 State Tournament.
“I truly believe our boys will do very well at the State Tournament as we don’t have a large team in numbers, but our scores compared to those from the South Regional are much higher,” said Kristin Hartland, head coach of bowling at James Clemens. “Our girls are on their way to the State Tournament with the idea of if they bowl well, they have a chance to win it all.”
The confidence stems from the fact the boys head into the final event of the season with a 21-0 record while the girls are 20-1 with their lone loss coming in the Regional Tournament versus Southside in round two by a score of 1231-1091.
The boys are living a dream as they had just five bowlers on the official roster as one team member, Donovan Ayers, a senior, remained home from the event due to illness, while junior Britten Leide injured his back after dayone of the competition and was unable to participate in day two of the action. That left Hartland with three starters, Parker von Oven (Jr.), Joshua Holt (Sr.) and Zachary Holt (Sr.) and a first-year bowler in Rylee Putman (Sr.), and eighth grader Anthony Holland. The squad defeated Homewood (1644-1213) and Southside (1473-1441). Despite the fact the squad had zero backups, the Jets nearly destroyed the competition and earned the spot in the finals versus Tuscaloosa County where the Jets had to call upon self-grit to pull out a victory.
“This match was close all the way and we were losing 964-880 going into the traditional game round of the finals and was down by a dozen in the Baker Round (alternate rolls by bowlers),” said Hartland. “In the tenth and final frame, we had Parker, our top bowler and All-Region performer give us a frame to remember. He had to strike out for us to take the title. The anchor of our team did just that rolling three strikes to close out Tuscaloosa County 14801463. It was a great finals as Anthony (Holland) had not started a game for us all season as this was his first year on the team and against Tuscaloosa County he rolled a 203, his highest score of the season. Zachary (Holt) rolled a 236 in his first game to set the tone for his efforts and for Parker (von Oven), our team captain and team anchor, he came through and averaged over 200 as he brought his best into the final matches. He rolled games of 247, 191 and 188.”
The Lady Jets were a different story. They defeated Homewood 1017813 in the opening round, but for the first time this season fell to Southside 1231-1091 and dropped into the consolation bracket. Once there, they defeated Hewitt-Trussville 12341101, Tuscaloosa County 1140-956 and Grissom 12351015 to claim second place behind region winner Southside.
“They just didn’t seem to be ready,” said Hartland, of the Lady Jets’ second match and first loss of the season. “In our third match, which just happened to be a state qualifying match, we had a team meeting the night before and decided they needed to be ready for the challenge. They went out and rolled one of their highest scores of the season. By the time they made it to the match against Grissom, they were tired, but blew them out of the water in what was a fun-filled match even having fun with the Grissom players.”
The top three rollers for the Lady Jets were team captain and the team’s No. 1 player, Emily Caldwell (Jr.), Izzy Cloud (Fr.) and Alexis Friloux (8). Hartland added about her top three, “Emily is an amazing leader and she’s our ‘go-to girl’ at every match. Izzy is in her first year of bowling and did very well. Alexis struggled the first day, but bowled very well in day two. The key to our victory in the second place match was the fact I think I coached too much on the first day and let the girls handle their own bowling details.”
Day-one of the competition featured individual bowling. The top eight bowlers were named to the All-Regional Team. In boys, von Owen rolled games of 247 and 191 for a 438 total tying him for third place. In girls, Caldwell posted scores of 166 and 173 putting her 339 total in third place among the North Regional.
The State Tournament will be held at the Bowlero Lanes in Mobile.
