By MICHAEL CARNES
For the Herald
LINCOLN — You can’t improve on perfection, but you can sure try to match it.
Last year, the Wayne High girls bowling team set an unbeatable standard by going a perfect 12-0 in winning the first-ever Nebraska Girls State Bowling Championships title.
This year’s team couldn’t quite match the perfect run that last year’s team achieved, but they came pretty darn close, losing just one game on their way to a second consecutive state title Tuesday evening at Sun Valley Lanes.
The two smallest schools in the eight-team, double-elimination bracket wound up rolling for the title, and the Blue Devils were able to jump on Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family early in each of the three Baker games, posting wins of 194-143, 161-137 and 156-129 to retain the honor of being the only girls bowling team in the state to win an NSAA state title.
“It felt pretty dang good,” coach Josh Johnson said after the girls accepted the trophy. “The girls bowled well all day and just kept the pressure on people.”
Johnson said he was happy the Wayne girls were able to overcome a third-game loss to Seward in the first round. They won the first two games (157-99, 215-157) and came back from the third-game defeat (191-171) to finish off the Bluejays 173-165 in the best-of-five series — and never lost again after that.
“We were just tickled pink to get that first match,” Johnson said. “Seward bowled really well after that second game, and I think Jamie Janke had to throw a turkey in the 10th to close them out, so we were just tickled to get past them and just kept rolling from there.”
The Blue Devils were on fire throughout their four-game win over Seward and three-game sweeps of Omaha Westside (215-142, 179-160, 138-119) and Humphrey/Lindsay Holy Family (204-146, 216-164, 195-128) that put them in the Monday night final, and Johnson was worried that the team might cool off in the rematch with the Bulldogs that evening.
“Earlier in the day we were hotter than a pistol and averaged almost 200 a game, which is unheard of in Baker bowling,” he said. “The problem is that was during the morning and we didn’t bowl again for eight hours, so I was worried that we wouldn’t get the momentum going again under the bright lights of the finals.”
His worries, as it turns out, were unfounded. The team of seniors Brianna Nissen, Jamie Janke and Catherine Rutenback, junior Riley Haschke, sophomore Jersi Jensen and freshman Lindsay Niemann and Joslyn Johnson came out with a 30-point win in the first game, then used a five-spare start in the second game to give them a two-game advantage.
In the final game, Wayne built a 22-pin lead before an open in the sixth frame allowed the Bulldogs to use a spare that got them within eight pins. Wayne was able to get a spare in the eighth while the Bulldogs had open frames in the eighth and ninth frames that sealed the deal for the victorious Blue Devils.
Johnson said it was great for the three seniors to finish their careers as champions, and gives the younger kids something to look forward to next year as they go for the three-peat.
“The TV people were asking the seniors afterward about how long they’ve been bowling, and it was neat for them to be able to look back on the years it took for them to get there and all that time and effort,” he said. “For Jersi, Riley, Lindsay and Joslyn, it will be nice to have them back next year and there are a bunch of girls waiting in the wings to take the seniors’ place, and that next-girl-up mentality is something we hope continues.”
WHILE THE GIRLS WON for the second straight year, it was a heartbreaking finish for the Wayne High boys, who were painfully close from beating both eventual champion Grand Island and runner-up Northwest, but had to settle for third-place honors.
The boys team — seniors Jacob Anderson and James Dorcey, juniors Shayne Geidner, Brogan Foote, Calvin Starzl and Brooks Kneifl, and freshman Jaden Dramse — opened the tournament with an exciting 3-2 win over Bellevue West, then knocked off top-seed Northwest in a 3-1 decision to put themselves one match away from the championship finals.
Wayne had their chances to close out Grand Island, but Grand Island battled back and claimed a 3-1 win to knock Wayne down into the consolation final, where a rematch with Northwest awaited them.
The Blue Devils held a 2-1 advantage in the best-of-five match and were one frame away after Northwest opened in the 10th frame. Wayne needed a spare and three pins in their 10th frame to advance to the finals, but the ball didn’t spin Wayne’s way. Northwest tied the match and used the momentum to win the decisive fifth game to advance to the finals.
“Brogan had a good ball and we thought it was going to get it, but it didn’t catch the front pin quite enough,” Johnson said. “But there were a lot of other opportunities we had to get it done in that game, and we’ve asked Brogan to throw a lot of 10th-frame turkeys this year. A mark anywhere else would have sealed that game, and (Northwest) came out in that fifth game and threw a 3-4 bagger (strikes) that was just a punch in the gut. We couldn’t match that string, and if you give great teams too many chances, they capitalize.”
Johnson said the Wayne boys bowled well throughout the day, including their first-round win over the Thunderbirds in a match that was tight up to the very end.
“We took Bellevue West right out of the gates and that was a great win for us, and then we came out and got Northwest, who was the top seed, and that was a great win for the boys. We could taste it against Grand Island and just couldn’t grasp it.”
Despite the loss, Johnson said the boys had nothing to be ashamed of.
“We had a couple of one-frame-away moments where they could have been on TV with the girls, and just couldn’t quite get it done,” he said.
ON MONDAY, SIX WAYNE kids competed in singles action and three came home with medals for a top-eight finish.
Leading the way was Jersi Jensen, who finished second in the four-game qualifying round and rode that No. 2 seed to the finals, where she lost to Claire Busch of Papillion-LaVista South in the championship match.
“Jersi was able to stay hot throughout the day,” Johnson said. “She threw a split on her first ball and came back and was so consistent and picked up a lot of spares and had a great day.”
Jensen opened the quarterfinals with a 374-317 win over Lexi Montoya of Fremont, then outpolled Montoya’s teammate, Haylee Bates, 446-345 to reach the finals, where she was defeated by Busch 449-320.
“Claire came out and put the pressure on Jersi, and when she threw a turkey in the second game it was kind of a punch in the gut,” Johnson said. “Jersi recovered nicely the last few frames, but it just wasn’t enough.”
Jensen was joined by Nissen in the eight-girl knockout round. Nissen qualified as the No. 3 seed, but fell to Bates 373-330 in the quarterfinals and finished seventh.
“Brianna had some bad luck there in the quarterfinals,” Johnson said. “It was hard to find the groove in the oil in her match, and she was able to eventually find it but it just wasn’t enough.”
Two other Blue Devils bowled in the girls singles competition. Janke, last year’s state runner-up, had a hard time finding a consistent groove and finished 17th in the 50-girl competition, while Haschke placed 35th.
The boys competition was very tough and it took some big numbers to get to the round of eight. Foote was able to bowl a 224 average and ended up the No. 7 seed, where he fell in the first round to McCool Junction’s Garrett Hansen, 486-331.
“Calvin (Starzl) averaged a 215 for four games and (finished 12th), so that gives you a good idea of how good the bowling was in the boys tournament,” Johnson said. “Calvin and Brogan both bowled unbelievably well, but there was some lights-out bowling in that boys competition.”
Nebraska State Bowling Championships
Girls Bracket
First Round
(1) Papio-LV South def. (8) Bellevue West, 3-0
(5) Humphrey/LHF def. (4) Fremont, 3-1
(3) Wayne def. (6) Seward, 3-1
(7) Omaha Westside def. (2) Lexington, 3-2
Semifinals
H/LHF def. PLVS, 3-2
Wayne def. O. Westside, 3-0
Winner’s Bracket Final
Wayne def. H/LHF, 3-0
Loser’s Bracket
Fremont def. Bellevue West, 3-0
Seward def. Lexington, 3-0
Fremont def. O. Westside, 3-0
Seward def. PLVS, 3-1
Fremont def. Seward, 3-1
H/LHF def. Fremont, 3-0
Championship
Wayne def. H/LHF, 3-0
Nebraska State Bowling Championships
Boys Bracket
(1) Northwest def. (8) Hastings, 3-2
(4) Wayne def. (5) Bellevue West, 3-2
(6) Lincoln Pius def. (3) Seward, 3-0
(2) Grand Island def. (7) Millard South, 3-1
Semifinals
Wayne def. Northwest, 3-1
Grand Island def. Lincoln Pius, 3-1
Winner’s Bracket Final
Grand Island def. Wayne, 3-1
Losers Bracket
Bellevue West def. Hastings, 3-0
Seward def. Millard South, 3-2
Bellevue West def. Lincoln Pius, 3-0
Northwest def. Seward, 3-1
Northwest def. Bellevue West, 3-1
Northwest def. Wayne, 3-2
Championship
Grand Island def. Northwest, 3-1
Look for more coverage and pictures in next week's Herald.
