Cardinal duo punches tickets to state bowling meet

URBANDALE — The streak of sending a team to state is over for the Newton girls’ bowling team, but the Cardinals will still be represented at the Class 2A state tournament after their two most experienced bowlers finished in the top eight individually on Monday.

Senior Libbie Keith became the first Newton female to advance to four state tournaments and senior Genessa Slings heads back to Waterloo for the second time in her career as the Cardinal duo finished in the top four.

“It’s a good feeling to get those two back to state,” Newton head bowling coach Christie Hughes said. “They have been working at this for four years.”

After advancing to state the past three years, the Cardinals placed fourth in the team standings at Gameday Lanes. But they welcomed in three new starters this winter.

Independence turned in five games of 191 or better and finished with a 227 to win the regional team championship. The Mustangs had 2,590 pins at the top and Fort Dodge also advanced to state as the runner-up with 2,498 pins.

North Scott was third with 2,423, Newton finished fourth with 2,349 and Cedar Rapids Xavier completed the top five with 2,208. The rest of the eight-team field included Urbandale (2,112), Dowling Catholic (1,839) and Des Moines Hoover (1,689).

“I wasn’t sure about the team coming in, but I was very impressed with fourth based on what we lost from last year,” Hughes said.

Neither Slings nor Keith started off their day that great. Keith rolled a 158 and Slings turned in a 157. But the final two games were much better.

Slings wound up third overall with a 558. Her second game was 220, which is one of the best single games of her prep career. She ended with a 181.

Slings, who was second at last year’s state qualifier, had only a few open frames in the 220 game. She knew she had plenty of time to recover from her opening game.

“It was just the first game. It takes time to get comfortable with the lanes,” Slings said. “We just read the lanes and knew it was still early. I knew I was still in it.”

Keith’s second game was 199 and her third was 193. That gave her a 550 series. The other four state qualifiers behind Newton turned in a 529, 528, 522 and 516.

Emma Gonzalez of Independence came into the day with the top average at 178.68. She won the regional title with a 590 series after rolling single games of 152, 234 and 204.

Her teammates, Carlie Hanson, was the runner-up with a 589 series. She posted single games of 171, 191 and 223.

Gabbie Humphrey was next for Newton. She finished with a 428 series after rolling single games of 125, 152 and 151.

Maria Baxim registered a 406 series with individual games of 151, 130 and 125. Marissa Burns had a 321 series with single games of 98, 101 and 122.

Aeris Archer rounded out the Cardinals’ lineup with a 318 series. She had single games of 85, 117 and 116.

Keith’s season, in her own words, has not been up to her standard. But that didn’t stop her from becoming the first four-time state qualifier in school history.

“That’s crazy. I don’t even know what to say,” Keith said. “I was really nervous coming in. I knew I had the capability. I haven’t had the greatest season, but I came back strong. I knew I had a chance. It just takes one good day.”

Both Slings and Keith decided to change bowling balls at some point during the long day. Slings made her change during game one, while Keith changed her ball after the first game.

“I had better control with the ball I think,” Slings said. “The first ball is still pretty new and I felt like it was over hooking. I should have just started out with that ball. I used that ball for all 15 Baker games. Not sure why I switched.”

Keith’s first roll after she changed balls did not go well. Hughes thought she maybe made the wrong decision, but Keith decided to stay with it.

“She wanted to try one more time and then she threw a strike and got back in it,” Hughes said. “I just felt like she’d do better with a ball change.”

After Keith opened on her first frame with the changed ball, she rolled five straight strikes. She added two more strikes but fell short of 200 after posting four open frames.

If Keith wasn’t throwing strikes, she often left splits after her first ball. But if she didn’t throw five straight strikes in the second game and total four strikes and four spares in game three, she likely falls short of another state berth.

“I needed that. I needed it for my confidence,” Keith said. “It’s what I needed to do to get back in it. Those were big. I wasn’t done yet.

“I didn’t get discouraged after each ball. It’s not the end of the world to get an open frame. It doesn’t have to impact the rest of the day.”

Slings felt more secure with being in the top eight after rolling the 220 in the second game. That game featured five strikes and five spares.

And she’s doing all of it with a heavy heart, too. Slings’ father Joe has been in the hospital for a lot of this season. Slings isn’t sleeping much, but she made sure to compete for her Dad on Monday.

“I definitely came into the day wanting to do this for him. It’s sad that it’s my last year and he’s not going to be there,” Slings said. “He had a setback last week. It’s just a waiting game right now.

“Honestly, It feels unbelievable. I wouldn’t have thought this was possible at the beginning of the year. I pulled myself through. I’m proud of myself.”

Notes: Hughes felt Keith and Slings were slipping in the third game. Their body language wasn’t good, but both of them rebounded to move into and stay in the top eight. “I looked at them about halfway through the third game and just asked them both to not give up on me yet,” Hughes said. “I knew they were in the top eight at that time.” ... Hughes said Keith is the only four-time state qualifier that she’s aware of. A few former Cardinals reached state three times. ... Slings came into the day ranked fifth among bowlers at the Urbandale state qualifier in per-game average. Humphrey ranked eighth and Keith was 10th. ... The individual portion of the 2A state tournament takes place at 9 a.m. on Monday at Cadillac Lanes in Waterloo.