Veronica Petrinec and Theo Cox have known each other for seven years, and they can now say they’re both doing this.

“We’re representing Brevard County,” said Cox. “We’re on the map now.”

Especially River Lanes, the bowling alley in Titusville where Veronica and Theo bowl in the same league. Each of them earned a runner-up finish in the state bowling individual championships on Thursday, but their paths to earning silver were completely different.

Petrinec was the number one seed heading into the final day of competition. She breezed her way to the championship match going undefeated. But in the gold medal match the Titusville senior came up one pin short.

“Even though it came down to literally the last ball and by one pin, which is tragic,” said Petrinec. “It’s really tragic. It’s not the end of the world and it’s not the end of my bowling career, I still have college.”

“This is the best I think she’s ever bowled,” Titusville bowling head coach Clay Kyle said. “She did amazing. She put every ball in the pocket, it could have been a 300, it could have been less, it’s hard in bowling.”

The journey to the championship match was completely different for Cox. The Edgewood junior battled back from being the number seven seed and came out of the losers bracket to earn a chance to compete for gold.

“It’s an amazing experience,” Cox said. “It’s nothing like I’ve ever done before. It’s just mind blowing honestly.”

“He was phenomenal all week long,” Edgewood bowling head coach Michael Harmon said. “He kept himself very composed, never looked like he was being pushed.”

Veronica plans to bowl collegiately for Vanderbilt next year, while Theo says he’s aiming for bringing home the gold medal at states. Either way they both plan to keep Brevard county bowling on the map.