It had been four years since an Orlando-area boy won the FHSAA bowling individual state championship. And six years since an area girl claimed a title at Orlando’s Boardwalk Bowl.
Both droughts ended Thursday when Winter Park sophomore Eden Bastian won the girls championship in an all-Orange County final, and Windermere High’s Ryan Martin came out of the loser’s bracket to win the boys title.
Bastian was unbeaten in head-to-head bracket play until she lost to one of the most decorated girl bowlers in Central Florida history, East River senior Larielle Tharps.
Bastian bounced back from that setback to defeat Tharps and claim the championship in the double-elimination format. Bastian won the first game 197 pins to 192 and second 239-225 in the best-of-three final.
“I just had to forget about the first match and throw my game with confidence,” said Bastian, who also handed Tharps a loss in a Wednesday night winner’s bracket match. “I felt like I was going to throw a flush strike on every shot.”
Bastian, like her older sister, Emma, stars in softball for the Geneva School. FHSAA rules allow her to bowl for Winter Park because Geneva doesn’t have a bowling team.
Winter Park high bowler Eden Bastain won the FHSAA individual state championship at Orlando’s Boardwalk Bowl. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel)
It was just the start of a long day for Tharps, who finished third in the state meet last year and is a repeat area girls bowler of the year. Soon after individual play ended, East River continued its quest for a fourth straight girls’ team title in play that went into the night on Thursday.
In the boys final, Martin survived elimination matches in the morning before facing Mateo Ruiz of Park Vista (Lake Worth), who had beaten Martin in a Thursday morning match. The Windermere standout turned up the intensity in high-scoring finals matches. He dealt Ruiz his first loss with 279-269 and 254-209 victories, then repeated the effort with 256-246 and 233-227 wins to capture the championship.
“He really turned it on,” Windermere coach Joe Amendola said. “He’s pretty quiet and doesn’t pump his fist much. His success and confidence breeds more success and confidence.”
Martin said it was as simple as turning down the ambient noise.
“There was a lot of things going through my head when there were multiple matches going on with a lot of noise,” Martin said. “Once we got to just one match, I was able to focus more.
“We didn’t do well as a team, so it was to win (individually) and represent Windermere High School.”
Windermere High senior Ryan Martin won the FHSAA boys bowling state championship at Boardwalk Bowl. (Ricardo Ramirez Buxeda/Orlando Sentinel)
The last time both individual bowling state champs were local was in 2016 with Bishop Moore’s Daniel Bryan winning the boys title and Circle Christian’s Leanne Vastbinder taking the girls title.
The most recent boys champ from the area was Apopka’s Richard Caruso four years ago. And it was six years ago when Lake Mary’s Sierra Poole won the girls title.
Hagerty’s Johnathan Madruga finished sixth in the boys competition. Wesley Archer of Leesburg was 10th.
East River’s Olivia Watson placed ninth in the girls bracket. Lake Highland Prep’s Emma Jackson was 11th and Gateway’s Hailey Fitch 12th.
East River, Windermere sweep FHSAA bowling district titles | Varsity Weekly
Varsity content editor Buddy Collings can be contacted by email at bcollings@orlandosentinel.com.