By Megan Kelley

Review Writer

The lady Dragon bowling team has been fairly consistent in recent years.

With one of Michigan’s top bowling coaches, Dennis O’Neill, at the wheel and a handful of some key athletes, the teams recent success is far from luck.

Currently, the team of seven is sitting pretty in the first place spot in the OAA Red division, just above both Clarkston and Oxford high schools. The Lake Orion ladies are 3-0 in the OAA Red and 10-0 overall.

Their most recent win against Troy High School, 29-1 on Monday, catapulted them to the top of their division

“We’re doing really well,” O’Neill said. “Many of the other high schools do not have a coach like me and they do not have the athletes that I have.”

Individually, O’Neill can rely on his go-to bowler, the lone senior and Prairie View University bound Cheyenne Washington.

“Washington has the ability to be number one in state singles (regionals). I’d like to see her win that this year,” O’Neill said. “They only take the top ten and I think that she could be number one. She has two or three other young ladies who are skilled and she’ll have to overcome that.”

While the team has been rather successful thus far this season, they are going to need to put on their game faces in order to qualify for states.

“They take three high schools and we’ll have to have a good day, although we qualify a lot for a lot of tournaments,” said O’Neill. “If we could make the cut or be close to the cut that would be wonderful. You just got to know who you are and the competition is going to be rough. So, we have to have a good day and the other teams have to have a moderate day. But I won’t be disappointed in them, they’re a lot of fine young ladies.”

The ladies take on Avondale on Avon North Hill Lanes and 3:30 p.m. on Thursday.