Local bowler qualifies for national tournament

SANDPOINT — Sandpoint bowling phenom Sherman Ewing topped more than 300 competitors at the recent Idaho State High School Bowling Tournament at Sunset Lanes in Coeur d’Alene, qualifying for the USBC Gold National Youth Bowling Tournament in Indianapolis in July.  

Ewing qualified for the national tournament by winning the Junior Gold Award, averaging a 224 throughout the two-day tournament and registering the highest total pin count of every bowler. Ewing, who has a 300 game on his resumé and recently bowled a 299, won more than $1,000 in scholarship money and will get a chance to bowl in a televised tournament on ESPNU from July 10-16.

He bowls more than 60 games most weeks to keep his skills sharp, and hopes to eventually bowl in college.

“At this point, I’m planning to take it to college,” said Ewing, a junior at SHS who has the interest of one college program already. “I’m talking to the Fresno State head coach and I’d love to take it that far.”

Ewing also helped his team, A.J.’s Lanes in Bonners Ferry, to the team title. He was joined on the winning team by Bonners Ferry bowlers Chris Lemmert, Derek Ault and Kirkland Lemmert, and also teamed with Derek Lemmert to win the doubles championship, completing a sweep of the highest divisions.

In the Coeur d’Alene tournament he rolled pro-level three game series scores of 694 and 684, topping out with a high game of 269. Following that tournament he went to Twin Falls for the Pepsi State Championships, where he finished second to a youth bowler from Burley in the final frame of the championship, averaging a 212 in the process.

For Ewing, who also played for the Sandpoint American Legion baseball team last season, bowling is a labor of love.

“I’ve just got a passion for it,” he explained. “It’s not a chore or something I’m forced to do, it’s something I want to do. It’s so much fun for me.”