All-Region girls bowling: Lauryn Heying, Fort Vancouver

The game was OK, but Lauryn Heying was not going to get carried away with it.

After all, it was just a game. She could take it or leave it.

Emily Basnett, sr., Columbia River

Tiffany Becker, jr., Mountain View

Shelby Chartrand, so., Camas

Cassandra Huit, jr., Battle Ground

Reagan Lorey, fr., Hudson’s Bay

AJ Schock, sr., Battle Ground

In fact, after bowling her freshman season at Fort Vancouver, she was certain she was going to leave it. She averaged around 80 pins per game that year. Her high was 120. She was not exactly a star in the making.

Or so she thought.

The next season, new coach Julie Pagel wondered why Heying was not at the bowling center. It took a couple weeks, but Pagel convinced Heying to give the game another try.

Now a senior at Fort Vancouver, Heying is The Columbian’s All-Region bowler of the year after finishing second in the Class 3A state tournament last month.

“I could not be more thankful for (Pagel) for getting me out there,” Heying said, recalling that time she nearly quit. “Bowling has changed my life.”

It is not just the new friends she has met through the game — although those relationship are important to her. Bowling also became therapeutic.

“I do it while I’m angry, or while I’m sad, and it’s a relief,” Heying said. “It makes me happy.”

Especially when she is rolling strike after strike.

Heying averaged 183 for the high school season, then averaged 207 pins in her six games at state.

“I had a goal in mind that I wanted to place higher than 10th, which is where I finished last year,” Heying said. “It’s my senior year. I need it. Let’s go.”

Heying goes through the same routine before each approach. She grabs her bowling ball, takes a breath, then counts to three.

“I can’t think of a lot of things while I’m bowling. I have to have a clear mind,” she said. “I clear my mind of everything, have confidence, and get after it.”

She watches other bowlers when it is not her turn. She looks for any changes in the lane conditions.

“You never lose focus,” Heying said.

Heying sounds like a championship-caliber athlete now, doesn’t she? A few years ago, she was just somebody who bowled for one season, to give the sport a try. Someone who was just as happy to leave bowling as she was to come to the sport.

Now, the game means so much.

“Bowling kind of consumed me,” Heying said. “Everyone likes doing something they’re good at.”

Her plans for next year are to attend Washington State University in Pullman. There is no college bowling program there, so instead she will bowl in intramurals and other leagues.

This time, there is no way she could think of walking away from the game.