Five Cardinals compete in individual state bowling tournament

WATERLOO — The first ball junior Logan Bown threw at the state bowling tournament on Wednesday went right into the gutter.

It was a practice ball and no one in the building knew how the lanes at Maple Lanes would be prior to that throw, but it was a sign of things to come for the five Cardinals who competed in the individual portion of the Class 2A Iowa High School State Bowling Championships.

There were a few ups but too many downs on a day when all five Newton players had to be at their best to advance to the final eight.

“To be here is a huge accomplishment for all of them,” Newton head bowling coach Christie Hughes said. “I couldn’t be more proud of them. They all had great seasons.”

Like with the team competition on Tuesday, there was a new format implemented into state competition for individuals, too.

All 32 individuals for both boys and girls rolled three games and the top eight series scores advanced to an eight-person bracket that was seeded based on the three preliminary games.

It took a 672 series to reach the boys’ final eight. Freshman Austin Kennedy led the way for the Cardinals with a 606. He placed 19th. Bown registered a 584 and was 21st overall.

“It was a fun experience, but there is lots of work coming this offseason,” said Kennedy, whose series included a career-best 237 single game.

On the girls’ side, senior Kaitlyn Gifford, junior Bailey Hansen and sophomore Libbie Keith all represented the Cardinals.

It took a 591 to advance to bracket play. Hansen led the Cardinals in 18th with a 508. Keith and Gifford were 29th and 30th with a 448 and 414, respectively.

“Today was a good experience even though I didn’t do my best,” Gifford said.

Kennedy’s 237 came in his opening game, but he did not have great warmup throws and his first frame was open. He figured out his mark though and threw strikes in frames four, five, six, seven and nine and had three straight in the 10th frame.

Kennedy ran into trouble in the second game, rolling a 158, but ended his day with a solid 211.

“The lanes were really oily on the outside. The ball just dropped off if you got it too far out there,” Kennedy said. “I had a bunch of bad shots in the second game. Nothing else. I just threw a bunch of bad balls.”

Bown started slow but finished his day with a career-best 246. He opened with a 178 and had a 160 in game two.

Bown said he was in the right mindset for game three knowing he needed a huge number to even have a shot at the final eight. He plans to be back at state next season.

“I knew I had to have a big mark to even have a chance. I found the right mark but it wasn’t enough,” Bown said. “It was fun and great to experience this with Austin. I am thankful we got to do it and thankful for those who came up here to cheer us on.

“I will be in the alley all summer grinding and improving every day.”

The Cardinal girls’ trio mostly struggled to figure out the oily lanes at Maple Lanes, which was large on looks and small on space.

Hansen was the best this time around, finishing with a 180 and 191 after beginning with a 137.

“They were really oily. I tried to move right and adjust, and throw the ball at a speed I wasn’t used to,” Hansen said. “Hopefully we can get back here next year.”

Keith’s best game was the 174 she threw in the second game. She opened with a 126 and finished with a 148.

She used the same mark she’s used all season, but it just didn’t work. She made some adjustments but couldn’t quite get into a rhythm.

“I usually go with the second arrow, but it did not come back today,” Keith said. “I had to move closer to the first arrow to even get it to go in the middle. I think I finally found it on that first arrow. Sometimes it would go and sometimes it wouldn’t.”

Keith has been an individual state qualifier in her first two years of high school. This offseason, she wants to play in more bowling centers to learn different oil patterns.

“I need to be flexible. I have never bowled here before,” Keith said. “Every place has different oil patterns. Besides that, just practice, practice and practice.”

Gifford’s best game was her first. She started with a 143 and finished with a 132 and 139.

She bowled on the varsity team for the first time as a senior. So for her career to end at the state tournament showed impressive improvement this season.

“I thought I would be on varsity because we lost some last year, but I didn’t expect to do this well,” Gifford said. “I have improved a lot from last year.”

Hughes is not sure if the eight-team brackets at the end of the preliminary round is the right number. Most of the bowlers knew after the first game if they were in it or not.

“Does it need to be a larger number? I don’t know,” Hughes said. “This is a learning year and we can figure it out for next year.

“I know our kids knew after game one, or at least they felt like they knew, that they were done or not. They were already calculating in their head what they had to have for their next two games to move on. And those can sometimes almost be unrealistic numbers.”

Hughes said all five bowlers did awesome. But the next step in the progression is to be more consistent and don’t take bad frames to the next frame.

“The mindset is huge. Not letting a few bad frames affect the entire game is a big thing,” Hughes said. “You have to let the bad frames and bad games be. That’s a challenge for not only our players. It’s hard for everyone.”