Columbus, Pius boys and Norfolk, Grand Island Northwest girls take home state team titles
By Tony Chapman – For the Nebraska School Activities Association
On live television for the first time, the state bowling championships brought to television screens across the state the tension and pressure involved in the team format for high school bowling in Nebraska. And, in its fifth year as an NSAA sanctioned sport, the championships at Sun Valley Lanes and Games in Lincoln delivered.
In Class A on Wednesday, the Columbus boys and the Norfolk girls controlled their matches from the beginning in sweeps of Bellevue East and Grand Island to secure titles. It was a repeat for the Discoverers.
The day before, the Lincoln Pius X boys defeated Wayne 3-1 in the best-of-5 Baker format while the Northwest girls took their first-ever state title as they ousted Elkhorn 3-2 in the opening match on television.
Girls Team Bracket | Boys Team Bracket | Boys Individual Bracket | Girls Individual Bracket
Class A: Columbus boys, Norfolk girls power way to team titles
The Columbus boys struck in each of the first five frames on Wednesday night to take full control of their state championship match with Bellevue East and never really gave the Chieftains much room to comeback in their 3-0 sweep and second consecutive state title.
“Our boys just came and out and said let’s just do what we have been doing all year,” Columbus coach Bob Jaster said. “Don’t let off the gas and keep the pedal going.
“We found our lines and we were able to adjust quickly.”
On Wednesday, the Discoverers won four of their five matches by 3-0. In the bracket final, against sixth-seed Omaha Westside they had to come back from an 0-2 deficit with games of 200, 188 and 172 to oust the Warriors.
There was no such drama in the finals as the Discoverers averaged just over 198 pins for the day, nearly 20 better than any other team.
“The plan was to start strong and finish strong and we did that,” said Discoverer senior Gavin Unger.
The Norfolk girls used the momentum from a 137-130 win in their opening championship match with Grand Island Senior High to garner a sweep of the Islanders. With a chance to spare and win the match in the final frame, the Islanders left the frame open for Norfolk and then the Panthers took that momentum to a sweep.
They marked in every frame of the second game for a 195-105 win and won the third game 140-106 for their first ever state bowling championship.
“That was unreal,” Norfolk coach Michael Wright said of the second game. “The girls turned around and said, ‘Spares matter.’ They just bowled extremely well. I am so proud of them.
“They made my job easy today. They picked each other up. I just kind of sat back and took it all in.”
On Thursday, the state event concluded with the individual championships.
The top-eight girls in the Class A bracket were separated by just 27 pins in qualifying and it was Omaha Westview’s Tayrn Stern who survived the bracket. She bowled a 317 final match to defeat Fremont’s Kaylee Halladay in the championship match. Stern had qualified as the sixth-seed with a four-game qualifying series total of 654.
Three boys in Class A went over 850 in the qualifying, but it was Millard West’s Anden Sutter – who was the fifth-seed – that survived for the state championship. Sutter warmed up in bracket play as he bowled two-game series of 434, 431 and 439 outlasting Grand Island sophomore Bradyn Sinsel in the championship match. Sinsel, who qualified second, survived a match with teammate Broc Cramer 401-397 to advance to the finals.
Class B: Northwest girls, Pius boys have bounce back titles
The Lincoln Pius X boys and Grand Island Northwest girls bounced back in different ways to win their respective state championships on Tuesday night.
The Bolts carried with them the disappointment of a 3-2, 1-pin loss to Columbus in last year’s Class A championship as they defeated Wayne 3-1 in the championship match with a 189-171 win in the final game.
“We focus a lot on lane play,” Pius coach Tyler Punteney said of his team’s victory. “We found a great look early on and it really never went away.
“Our motto is control what you can control and make good shots in the moment. Wayne had a great game (in game two) but we continued to bounce back and not let them rattle us.”
The Bolts had to earn their way to the finals as well. They breezed through their first two matches of the afternoon, before defending champion Seward beat them 3-2 forcing a winner-take-all bracket game to the finals. In the deciding game, Pius bowled an impressive 246 to beat the Bluejays 246-165.
Northwest used an impressive start in the deciding fifth game of their championship match to hold off fifth-seed Elkhorn for a 3-2 win. The Vikings won the last game 165-126 after both teams traded the first four games.
The Vikings were swept by four-time champion Wayne in the second round of the day, before they fought back to defeat their opening opponent, Humphrey-Lindsay in the loser’s bracket. Needing to beat Wayne twice, Northwest swept the Blue Devils in the first best-of-five match.
In the winner-take-all game, Wayne took game one 176-162 before the Vikings bowled games of 155, 172 and 158 to earn their trip to the finals.
“We were a little worried about having to beat (Wayne) twice,” said Northwest coach Nikki Bradley of the Vikings first state championship in school history. “We just tried to get as many spares and strikes as we could.”
On Monday, the state event opened with the individual championships that featured 30 bowlers who qualified through district play.
Arapahoe’s Lauren Moore bowled games of 161 and 160 to take a 16-pin win over Howells-Dodge’s Annabelle Slaughter in the championship match. In the four-game qualifying round, Moore had the highest game at 236 and garnered the first-seed while Slaughter qualified sixth.
The boys final featured the top two seeds with Wayne sophomore Dylan Jensen defeating Pius’ Colin Meyersburg in the championship match. Jensen took a 29-pin lead after game one of the finals with a 222 and finished with a 30-pin advantage in the finals. He qualified with a 778 four-game series and Meyersburg had a 743.
Tony Chapman is a freelance writer based in Grand Island. He has written for multiple Nebraska daily and weekly newspapers. His weekly Harvest Sports Newsletter covers a wide variety of Nebraska prep sports.