NEWPORT, Ky. — Rising to the highest level of competition while keeping a cool head, a northern Kentucky teen who just became a state champion bowler said she owes her success to countless hours of hard work.
Being a lefty is just one of the many things that makes Alexis Tignor unique in the sport of bowling. One can almost become hypnotized watching her effortlessly throw strike after strike after strike.
She recently threw eight straight strikes in two different rounds at the Kentucky High School Athletic Association State Bowling Tournament en route to becoming state champion. Tignor’s the first individual at Cooper High School to do so.
“There was always the possibility of it, but I never thought I’d be able to reach that level, due to the competitiveness surrounding all of Kentucky, really,” Tignor said.
She said hard work and practice helped get her there.
“It was my senior year, and I wanted to do something that wrapped up my senior year,” she said, in between rounds of a league competition at Newport’s Bellewood Lanes. “I just keep practicing and practicing.”
She practically grew up in bowling alleys, starting when she was 4 years old. Coming from a family full of bowlers helped her, too, as her grandparents, parents and siblings are all bowlers.
Her father, Joel Tignor, is also her assistant coach at Cooper High School.
“If I’m in my head, he can help me get out of my head,” she said of her dad.
“Bowling’s been in our family for decades,” Joel Tignor said. “Being there with her during practice and also getting those moments where I actually get to be there, and watching her succeed, it’s like winning the lottery.”
Tignor’s championship run was delayed two weeks because of weather, which Joel said got to her.
“She wanted to practice more right before the tournament; I told her no,” he said. “Day of the tournament, she gets there, and next thing you know, everything just lines up.”
Tignor’s original goal was just to get into the top four, but she found herself on an incredible roll. The talented field included last year’s state champion.
“At one part during the game, she actually had a challenging spare,” Joel said. “It was a split, really. And when she made that split, it was like just everything changed. The confidence went straight through the roof, and the rest of the game just closed out. It just was awesome watching her.”
Alexis said she tries not to overthink too much but also adapt when necessary. In addition to her own success, she’s also helping to grow the sport of bowling, which she said brings her as much joy as the trophies.
“I just love seeing everyone else fall in love with it as well,” she said.
Tignor plans to be a student-athlete at Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina, where she said she wants to continue competing and traveling the country.
