Local women score big in Reno's Mecca

Unlike Johnny Cash, who shot a man in Reno just to watch him die, five area women bowlers didn't shoot a man in Reno but still shot the lights out inside the National Bowling Stadium in Reno, Nev., which just happens to be the grandest bowling venue in America.

Turn five women loose in the "biggest little city in the world" and there is bound to be some fireworks. Fireworks were the order of the day when the local area team of Cindy Blair-McManus, Jolita Perry, Stephanie Gardner, Dorothy Copeland and Mona Wheeler lit up the lanes in the 2009 United States Bowling Congress (USBC) Women's Championships.

The team's accomplishment was a second-place finish in their division, losing to the first-place team from New York by a mere five pins. But to finish second in a national tournament like this is a re-markable accomplishment. Their scratch scores were 168-201-200-569 for Gardner, 145-230-141-516 for Wheeler, 149-170-199-518 for Blair-McManus, 181-180-164-525 for Copeland and 204-254-201-659 for Perry.

This tournament is open to all USBC-certified women bowlers and thousands enter. There is a team event, a doubles event and a singles event. The normal schedule is to bowl the team event on one day and doubles and singles on the next day.

When it is time to bowl, the teams enter though the center of the stadium, sort of like a Rocky movie, with music playing and lights flashing.

Perry, awed by the event, said, "The feeling for me walking out of the tunnel was like being a celeb-rity walking out on stage."

After the grand entrance, each team went to its assigned lanes and lined up for the playing of the National Anthem.

You can find these bowlers in leagues at Bowl America Woodbridge, Fort Belvoir, Bowl America Shirley and AMF Annandale. Gardner is a Lt. Col. in the Air Force who has been bowling for 20 years; Wheeler is a chemist in the Air Force and her take on the tournament was "Wow!"

Blair-McManus, Lorton resident and mother of two, currently bowls in three leagues.

"My teammates bowled really well," she said, "and we enjoyed the whole experience both on and off the lanes."

Copeland, who bowled in this USBC tournament once before, said she was very surprised to see the team score hold up and win second place in a national competition.

Perry, also mother of two, bowls in Woodbridge, Alexandria and Ft. Belvoir. For her, bowling is her outlet; it is her "me" time. Perry felt this team had a great connection with each other.

"We just had so much fun bowling together," she said. "It was a feeling that is hard to sum up into words, I was grateful to be part of such a wonderful group."

The five bowlers give credit to Joyce Dawson, who took the lead in organizing their team as well as one other, making travel arrangements and submitting the registration for the tournament.

National Bowling Stadium

The only facility of its kind in the world, the National Bowling Stadium in Reno is dedicated to the sport of bowling. The Los Angeles Times called it the "Taj Mahal of tenpins." The Stadium was ele-gantly designed in 1995 with the tournament bowler in mind.

As bowlers and visitors enter the Stadium they are greeted by an impressive, four-story lobby. The 78 championship lanes beckon competitors to try their luck. The Stadium boasts the longest video screen in the world which is capable of projecting video images as well as state-of-the-art scoring graphics across its 440-foot length.

Gil Sanchez is a freelance bowling writer for the News & Messenger. He is a member of the Bowling Writ-ers Association of America and the USBC Advisory Council. Reach him at 703-587-6792 or at gsan-chez@insidenova.com.