A total of 32 bowlers, 16 girls and 16 boys will make up this year's Wayne High bowling program with a handful of home events on the schedule.
Josh Johnson will be entering his sixth year as the head coach.
"We had our yearly youth and team camps which gave us a great opportunity to get to know the younger generation of bowlers," said Johnson. "We also had a summer league which gave our older kids a chance to bowl on a regular basis."
Joining coach Johnson will be Vicki Smith, Cec Vandersnick and Ronnie Forney on staff.
The lone senior girl is Regan Fernau while senior boys include Lucas Allemann, Mahlik Campbell, Eli Clover, Jake Russman and Zane Sievers.
Ahead of official NSAA winter sports practices on Nov. 17, several of the team members were able to get together and bowl on their own. Several bowled in the Nebraska fall tournaments.
"Fundamentals and repetition were worked on during week one," said Johnson. "We have a nice blend of veterans and youth but fundamentals are always important no matter the level you are playing."
Team goals for Wayne High bowling remain the same by getting better each drill, practice and match. The group will be learning something new from everything they do and apply it to the next time on the lanes.
"Each season brings new excitement," said Johnson. "We are super excited for the season and this group is really working well together to make this season a great one."
The Blue Devils will be without last year's upperclassmen of Sammi Gubbels, Rylin Hall, Madi Janke and Lindsay Niemann for the girls as well as Jaden Dramse and Jamison Meyer for the boys.
Coach Johnson highlighted his top returners.
Girls:
Regan Fernau - "as our lone senior we are looking for veteran leadership. Regan has been part of two championship teams and we will be looking to her to keep that tradition going."
Gracyn Trautman - "a two-year starter who we will also look to for that veteran leadership. She has started her entire career and will be a great leader for our younger girls."
McKaeya Becker, Madi Korth and Marie Allemann - "we are looking for them to step up into new roles. They have been in the program and are ready to take that next step."
Regan Fernau is the only senior girl among the 16 Wayne High bowlers. She first picked up the sport of bowling around third grade during summer youth league.
"After a few years I slowly started to fall in love with the sport and the people in it and now I'm one of the best teams in the state," said Fernau.
During the off season, she was working on being more consistent and her attitude when bowling while not putting as much pressure on herself.
"As the only senior girl, however, I have been working with the team to bring everyone closer together to create a family and not just friendships."
During the opening few weeks of practices, the Wayne bowlers have experienced team bonding while being there for each other.
Among team goals are aiming to get better everyday, win the small goals and aim to do their best at every competition. The ultimate goal is always to send the team to state in February along with a few individuals.
"With the first match here it is bitter sweet to think it's my last season with these girls," said Fernau. "But I am excited to see how well the lady bowlers do and I can't wait for all the fun pre-meet and post meet activities."
Boys:
Zane Sievers - "our lone returning varsity senior will help keep us grounded and focused on our goals. We are looking forward to a big year for him."
Ben Haschke, Dylan Jensen, Konnor Kai, Aiden Petersen and Blake Smith – "these juniors have been a big part of our bowling program these past two years. They have a ton of experience and will be looking to push us over the hump this year. We need them to lead us every day in practice just as much as the matches."
Senior Lucas Allemann has only been bowling for two years now.
"Over the summer I did youth bowling once a week and in the off season I bowled every now and then," said Allemann. "The team has been working on mainly different forms of drills such as changing steps as in one-step drills and no step drills which help you curve the ball using muscle memory."
Allemann has also been continuing to learn during these early weeks how to properly curve the ball and being able to pick up the pins in the second frame if he misses.
Goals for the Wayne bowlers are to pick up more spares and to win every competition.
"I'm excited to see how many people we are going to see during the games with a total of around 30 Blue Devil bowlers."
Coach Johnson also stated, 'we have some freshmen that have bowled a ton in our youth programs. We think these kids can step in right away and contribute.'
Additional leaders highlighted are Gracyn Johnson and Avery Gubbels for the girls and Kash Hasse, Dreu Jensen and Colton Smith for the boys.
With bowling being mainly a mental game, the Blue Devils will need to take every drill and every throw as the most important thing they do each day. Being prepared will make the matches much easier.
Year number six for the Wayne High bowling program starts on Dec. 4 at Norfolk Catholic during a dual.
"We need to keep working on ourselves," said Johnson. "If we keep working hard Thursday will take care of itself."
Home action for Wayne bowling at Wildcat Lanes includes Dec. 19 (Thurston-Cuming County), Dec. 30 (Wayne Invite), Jan. 8 (Norfolk Catholic), Jan. 15 (Howells-Dodge) and Jan. 22 (Norfolk High).
"Keep supporting us," said Johnson. "We have a great following and that really fuels our team. This should be a fun team to watch so come out and support us in every match."
Both Fernau and Allemann would like to thank you the fan.
"There are really no other words that express how we as bowlers feel when we arrive to a meet two plus hours awav and the stands are filled with Blue Devil fans," said Fernau. "I personally want to thank my family and all the bowling families that make those trips because just being there means so much to the team."
"I want to say thank you to all friends and family for coming and supporting everybody, and just making games a good time," said Allemann.
