AHS’s Kody Phillips is the No. 2 ranked bowler in the state

Things are gong pretty good for Austin junior Kody Phillips.

He was recently named to the Minnesota High School All-State Bowling Team, he is the No. 2 ranked bowler in Minnesota, and he bowled his first career 300 game in a youth league at Echo Lanes Nov. 11.

Phillips, who has been bowling since he was three years old, had bowled a 290 four times before, but he had never tallied 12 strikes in a game.

“I’ve had a lot of great chances to get it, I could just never carry the corner pins. Finally it all happened and I finally got all twelve in a row,” Phillips said. “I wasn’t really paying attention until I saw that I had the front eight, then I really started paying attention.”

Phillips also had games of 237 and 255 in his series Nov. 11, and his three-game total score of 792 was eight pins short of a record series for an Austin youth bowler.

Phillips has been an all-conference bowler for the Packers since he was a seventh grader and he’s been drawn to the sport ever since his grandpa got him started as a toddler.

Now Phillips embraces competing with his teammates on the Austin bowling team.

“There’s a lot of adrenaline in the meets and the feeling is crazy,” Phillips said. “You don’t feel a lot of pressure, unless you need a spare or a strike to win.”

Phillips likes to give his teammates pointers and he said sometimes a few of the Packer bowlers meet outside of their scheduled practices on Thursday to work on some things. But Phillips puts in his best work when he’s in the lanes by himself.

“That way I don’t have anyone telling me what to do and I can adjust myself,” Phillips said.

Phillips bowls two or three times a week during the winter and he bowls about every other week in the summer. He said there’s a couple of reasons why he keeps coming out to the lanes and both of them involve him having fun.

“The scores and the people keep me coming,” Phillips said. “It’s always a great time to come out here and if you’re bowling good, it’s just a plus. My goal is always to beat my score from the previous week.”

Phillips is also learning to master the art of shaking off a bad roll.

“You need to have the focus to keep going and going,” he said. “If I have a bad shot, I just forget about it, because if you keep thinking about it, it’ll mess you up.”

Phillips has a couple of college bowling teams looking at him and he’s hoping to eventually earn a bowling scholarship.