AF teams win armed forces bowling championships

  • Published
  • By Tim Hipps
  • U.S. Army Community and Family Support Center Public Affairs
DALLAS (AFPN) --  First Lt. Rickie Banister and Master Sgt. Christine Dash led their Air Force teams to the men's and women's team titles in the 2005 Armed Forces Bowling Championships here Jan. 12.

The tournament was held in conjunction with the 2005 USA Bowling National Amateur Championships, and the field was cut to the top 32 men and 24 women after three days of competition. Lieutenant Banister, who won the armed forces men's division with a 24-game total of 4,847, was the only military bowler to make the cut and finished 29th in the nation.

"The most touching thing happened to me last night when two Marine ladies told me, 'We're all behind you because if you make the cut, you represent the military,'" said Lieutenant Banister, a missileer at F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo. "It was never any clearer to me than at that moment. Yeah, I'm in the Air Force, but what I do represents the U.S. military. That's why I wanted to give it everything I had to make the cut. We all fight together, and if you saw us here, we were all together."

All-Army coach Dean Ryan said Lieutenant Banister was the difference in the armed forces men's tournament.

"I really thought this was the year that our (Army) men honestly had a chance to beat Air Force, and we probably should've," Mr. Ryan said. "I feel one man beat us, and that was Rickie Banister. He just had a tremendous tournament."

Air Force won the men's division with a score of 27,343, followed by Army (27,174), defending champion Marine Corps (26,080) and Navy (25,680). The Air Force women prevailed with a score of 25,134, followed by Army (23,755) and Navy and Marines (23,143), who combined for one team.

Sergeant Dash overcame a pinched nerve in her left leg to win the armed forces women's division with a 24-game total of 4,390.

"I fell out of every shot, because I couldn't get down with the ball," said Sergeant Dash, stationed at the Air National Guard Bureau in Arlington, Va. "It was a matter of figuring out what was the easiest way to deal with the pain and make a shot."

Sergeant Dash won the women's title in 1988 but did not return to the tournament until 2001 when she won her second championship. She said her "mental game" was the key to winning a third crown.

"I stay focused," she said. "I don't worry about what other people are doing around me. It's a mental game, it really is. You could see that here because I had no physical game. Execution is the key. When I throw a bad shot, I forget about it. A lot of people have a hard time doing that."

Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Bobbi Boutwell won the armed forces women's silver medal with a score of 4,271, followed by teammate Tech. Sgt. Kimberly Thompson (4,249). Army 1st Sgt. Susan Paschal finished fourth at 4,220.

The Army and Air Force had a three-day camp here a week before the armed forces championships to select their teams. (Courtesy of American Forces Press Service)