5 Westmoreland County girls bowlers bond together through love of the game

By: Ted Sarneso
Monday, March 10, 2025 | 10:10 AM

Sports always find ways of bringing people together.

It’s helped so many build new relationships despite personal differences.

For five Westmoreland County high school bowlers, their love and passion for the game has helped them look past the borders of their school districts — and the rivalries therein — to develop a friendship and bond that will last a lifetime.

It all started at Main Bowling in Greensburg on a Saturday morning last year when Hempfield junior Ashley Bensur was looking to put together a team for the alley’s Tasmanian Junior League.

Bensur and Avery Weishorn, a freshman at Penn-Trafford, were on the same team last season and knew they wanted to be on the same team again this year. Bensur also invited longtime friend Katelyn Kerchner of Latrobe to be on the team.

Looking for more players, Bensur remembered meeting Natalie Christoff, who is a freshman at Jeannette, a couple of years earlier in a summer league and approached her about joining the team.

“I knew her face, but we had never really had much contact before,” Bensur said. “In the first week of the league we didn’t really have our team, so we were just bowling and I saw Natalie and mentioned how I had seen her the summer before and asked her if she wanted to be on a team with me and Avery and she immediately said yes.”

Rounding out the team was Norwin senior Kari Siegel.

“I have known Ashley and Kate for a long time,” Siegel said. “I met Avery and Natalie for the first time during the junior league and got to know them as the season went a long.”

Siegel, Kerchner, Bensur and Christoff are also on the same traveling team in the spring. Weishorn, who plays softball as well, will join the team next year.

The five girls rolled for their respective high school teams and would meet up on Saturday mornings for the junior league where they would bond.

“We became friends through our passion for bowling,” Christoff said.

Added Siegel: “It’s always early in the morning when we see each other. We’re always joking around, and it’s a nice little wake up.”

Said Kerchner: “We’re always laughing and being super silly. We’re very supportive of each other and are always helping each other figure things out when it comes to our games.”

The advice the girls share has been a tremendous help to Weishorn and Christoff, who, as freshmen, were entering their first high school bowling season.

“I’m very grateful that I’m friends with them and they’re my teammates,” Weishorn said. “I’ve learned a lot from them in our matches during league games. They’ve showed me a few things about my form. I’m always going too fast or I’m not holding the ball right. They’ve helped me transform and I’m very grateful for their help.”

Added Christoff: “Its nice to look up to the girls I’m bowling with. We all motivate each other to do better. We’re all supportive, but it’s also a comforting sort of bond.”

All five have taken advantage of their willingness to help one another. Kerchner, Bensur, Christoff and Weishorn bowl for high school teams in the East-Southeast section.

When their teams would face each other, the girls secretly would root for each other to do their best.

“Before the matches and both teams are there, I go and find one of the four right off the bat to say hi, ask how their day was, basically check in on them,” Bensur said.

Said Christoff: “It’s really competitive, knowing that you’re all trying to get to the top of the section, but it’s also fun at the same time to see how each of us does.”

As the high school regular season came to an end, all four where in the top eight in average.

Bensur was second with a 195.83, Christoff third at 189.03, Kerchner fourth at 188.43 and Weishorn seventh at 164.40.

“I think my first season went pretty well,” Weishorn said. “I didn’t expect I would do this good. I started to get a little bad towards the end, but I overcame it and got a high average.”

Siegel’s Norwin team bowls in the Southeast section, and she was first in average with a 199.27.

For Kerchner, it was a better season than the one she had a year ago.

“I got a lot of help from my coach, and I raised my average from a 171 last year to the 188 this season,” Kerchner said. “I’m very proud of what I’ve done.”

Bensur saw her average dip from a year ago, when she finished over 200, but she stepped her game up when it came to tournaments.

She earned first place in the Westmoreland County Coaches Association event and was the individual champion in the WPIBL.

“I was very surprised, but it felt really nice and like a weight was lifted off my shoulders,” Bensur said. “I know I can win, but I have to really put my mind to it and I felt like I did that day. Now I’m like, what else can I do?”

Bensur also had the full support of her friends as the individual championships wound to a close. After all their teammates had gone home, Siegel, Kerchner, Weishorn and Christoff stuck around to watch their friend accomplish a goal.

“All of us had our own stuff to worry about,” Bensur said. “I never expected them to stay, and it meant a lot that they did to cheer me on.”

The group did the same for Weishorn when it came for qualifying for regionals. The other four had made it, but Weishorn needed to go to a three-frame roll off to qualify.

“Avery was tied in 40th place with a teammate of mine,” Kerchner said. “She was nervous, but the four of us were all standing in a line behind the lanes screaming and rooting her on. She didn’t win, but she still ended up qualifying for regionals.”

Who would have thought that the five girls who had become friends through their junior league team would all qualify for regionals?

“I’ve never had this happen before,” Siegel said. “It’s so much fun because even at WPIBLs, when we had a chance to all go, it was neat talking to each other and finding out the others had made it. Seeing all the numbers and where we placed, it had to be a million-to-one shot.”

For Weishorn and Christoff, making it as freshmen was exciting, but they also were nervous and had questions, so having the other three to lean on for support helped to calm them a little.

“They were asking questions, and Kate, Kari and I were trying to answer to the best of our ability,” Bensur said. “We met up at the start of regionals and had our usual fun and goofing around before we got serious for the games.”

Christoff was the only one of the group to qualify for states, placing 12th in the competition with a five-game series of 950.

“I had some bad days and some really good days throughout the year, but I would say overall, I did pretty good for my first year,” Christoff said.

The other four will no doubt be rooting on their friend in that competition March 14-15.

For Siegel, being the only senior of the group leaves a bittersweet feeling as the season ends.

“It hasn’t hit me that it’s my senior year or it’s my last time bowling,” Siegel said. “It’s this feeling of sadness, but it’s also amazing to me knowing I got to finish my high school career with a group that I love to pieces.”

As the summer approaches, and their schedules open up, the girls will look to get together for some friendly matches while continuing to support one another and deepening their bond.

“I look forward to bowling with these girls every week,” Weishorn said. “I love being with them.”

Tags: Hempfield, Jeannette, Latrobe, Norwin, Penn-Trafford