LINCOLN — Wayne High senior Jersi Jensen made a little history Monday afternoon at Sun Valley Lanes.
The Wayne High senior secured her second straight Class B singles title at the Nebraska State Bowling Championships with a 392-325 win over Faith Lahm of Grand Island Northwest.
The Blue Devil senior made school history with the win, becoming the first Wayne High athlete to win a state title in four consecutive years. She was part of the first two teams that won the state title in 2021 and 2022, and was the singles champion and part of the Class B title team last year. She will have a chance to help lead Wayne to a fourth consecutive team title when team competition takes place on Tuesday.
Jensen was one of five Wayne High bowlers involved in singles competition, four of which advanced to the eight-man knockout round.
Jensen, the top seed in the girls bracket, was joined by third-seeded Lindsay Niemann, who was upset in the first round by Lorena Mishler of Elkhorn, 641-621 in a two-game series. Jensen advanced with a 689-603 opening-round win over Daisy Gomez of Lexington.
In the semifinals, Jensen defeated Kynzee McFadden of Lincoln Northwest 352-342 to move on to the finals.
In the finals, Jensen won the first game by 30 pins and was never threatened after that, winning the second game 193-156 to finish off the 67-pin victory.
Jensen bowled a four-game total of 689 in the qualifying round (167-160-218-144), while Niemann recorded a 641 in her four-game series (170-143-156-172). Nina Hammer missed the top eight qualifiers, finishing 21st with a 507 (130-117-136-124).
In boys action, two of Wayne’s boys qualified for the eight-spot bracket as Aiden Petersen was seeded fifth and Konnor Kai sixth. Petersen qualified with a four-game series of 741 (182-177-211-171) while Kai shot a 709 (207-134-193-175).
Petersen advanced to the semifinals with a 790-741 win over Colin Nowaczyk of Elkhorn North, but fell in the semifinals to eventual runner-up Thaden Wewel of Mount Michael, 418-397.
Kai also faced an Elkhorn North opponent in the first round and lost a close one to Zander Limbeck, 355-335 Limbeck would lose in the semifinals to eventual champion Nicholas Pappas Jr. of Omaha Skutt.
Benjamin Haschke and Zane Sievers also participated in boys singles competition. Hashcke shot a 673 (157-170-167-179) to finish 12th, while Sievers placed 25th with a 594 (149-158-122-165).
Complete coverage in this week’s edition of The Wayne Herald.
