Postseason high school bowling began in early Feb. where up first were the Wayne High girls.
From Hilltop Lanes in Dodge, Wayne High competed amongst the six teams in action on Tuesday during the Class B-4 District.
Being led by a district champion and district runner-up along with two additional medals, the Wayne High girls won the district title to advance to their fifth consecutive state tournament.
Individually, Graycen Trautman bowled a 542 series to be crowned B-4 District champion while Lindsay Niemann followed in runner-up with a 514 being among the top five bowlers being represented from the B-4 District.
Madi Janke just missed out following a one-ball roll off to determine the winner. Janke would throw a good ball that just caught a little oil and slid into a seven count as her opponent would go ‘brooklyn’ and throw an eight count. Janke would end up in sixth place while Regan Fernau placed eighth as non-qualifying medalists
Head coach Josh Johnson said, “the lanes were pretty tough today (Tuesday). We have not seen that much oil all season and the girls had to fight it out. I am extremely proud of how much they battled all day. Districts can be so stressful but they all fought through it and stepped up. We were pushed a couple of times but they bowled like champions and found a way to get the job done. We will get back to work on Thursday and Friday and prepare for the State tournament next week.”
During the B-4 District, the Wayne girls started the day in the qualifying rounds where they quickly found the lanes to be extremely slick with a long oil pattern in place. The Blue Devil girls worked hard the first game to try to find the line. Many adjustments were tried and the girls battled throughout the first game. After the first game Wayne found themselves 15 pins behind the host team Howells-Dodge shooting a team score of 780.
After moving a set of lanes to the right, the girls again had to adjust to the ever changing oil. Teams across the lanes found the adjustment difficult and scores dropped. Wayne would drop off and shoot a team score of 733. That was good enough though to take a 40 pin lead into the final team game.
The Blue Devils would find their groove in game three and shoot a day high team score of 847.
After the 3 team games, Wayne found themselves as the number one seed. To earn a trip to State the girls would then have to win the Baker game portion of the tournament.
In their first Baker game, the Blue Devil girls were pitted against Thurston County. Wayne would get out to a quick start and take game one 156-99. However Thurston County would eke out games two (143-140) and three (140-137) to take a 2-1 lead over the Blue Devils.
Wayne would charge back in game four and win 201-103. The match would come down to game five where Wayne started out solid and would put the early pressure on TC. Wayne would pull away in game five and win 164-89 to move onto the Championship match against Howells-Dodge.
In the Championship game, the Wayne girls would start off well and take game one 160-129. Game two, the host team came out firing and would defeat Wayne 204-161. In game three the two teams battled back and forth but Wayne would end up on the short end again 138-136. Wayne was again down 2-1 and would have to win the next two games.
In game four the Blue Devil girls came out firing and rose to the challenge as Wayne would pull away and win 191-111.
The District championship would come down to a winner-take-all game five. The two teams both spared in the first frame but Wayne would throw a double after that to take an early lead. Wayne would keep the pressure on and would pull away for a 180-111 win and the B4 District Championship.
State qualifying members include Sammi Gubbels, Rylin Hall, Madi Janke, Lindsay Niemann, Regan Fernau, McKaeya Becker and Graycen Trautman with Marie Allemann as the team’s alternate.
Wayne, four-time defending state champions, are back in the girls state tourney.
NSAA State bowling will be held at Sun Valley Lanes & Games in Lincoln Monday, Feb. 10 – Thursday, Feb. 13. Class B girls and boys singles will be on Feb. 10; Class B girls and boys team along with finals will be on Feb. 11 with Class A girls and boys team along with finals on Feb. 12 before closing out with Class A girls and boys singles on Feb. 13.
