Newton’s Humphrey competes at state bowling tournament

WATERLOO — Gabbie Humphrey’s first state bowling experience started out fairly well once things officially got rolling at Cadillac XBC on Tuesday.

Humphrey marked in every frame but one in the first game but an early split that led to an open frame doomed her momentum and the Cardinal junior left too many 7 and 10 pins throughout her three-game series at the Iowa High School State Bowling Championships.

Humphrey was in 16th place after her first game of 185 and trailed the eighth and final bracket qualifier by around 30 pins. But things never picked up and her 505 series gave her a 26th-place finish in her first state tournament.

“I just couldn’t adjust how I needed to and when I finally did adjust I had to move over a pair of lanes,” Humphrey said. “I couldn’t knock the seven or the 10 out. It seemed like I left one of those a lot. I had trouble getting strikes.”

Humphrey said it wasn’t nerves. She was more nervous on the days leading up to state than she actually was at the state tournament.

Sometimes the biggest challenge is finding consistent in a multitude of things. That’s what she will focus on for her final season as she hopes to become the school’s first state medalist since they went to the new format.

“I’ll be very motivated next year,” Humphrey said. “I can still get back here and can still place next year. I just need to be more consistent on everything — picking up spares, hitting the same mark and having the same release. All of it.”

Humphrey and the rest of the 2A girls bowlers had a 45-minute or so delay at the start of the first round because some of the lanes were not properly oiled.

Once they got it going, Humphrey started with three straight spares. Her only open of the first game came after a split. She had eight spares and two strikes in Game 1.

The first three frames of Game 2 were nine spare each. But back-to-back splits that netted only nine pins and a third nine-pin frame followed and that set her back in the game.

She had a strike in the seventh frame but followed that with three straight nine spares for a 161 total.

Her third and final game produced a score of 159. She registered a day-high of three strikes in that game but also had three frames of nine then a miss and her 10th frame was a split that resulted in nine pins.

“The 10 pin stayed up a lot, but she did a good job,” Newton head bowling coach Christie Hughes said. “I’m proud of her.

“Just chalk this up to experience. She made some adjustments, but her ball stayed light and to the outside. She knew she had to get back inside.”

Humphrey finished with a 505 series, but it took a 601 to advance to bracket play.

Decorah’s Karlie Einck rolled a 693 series to lead the way after Round 1. Keokuk’s Sophia Rule was second with a 680 but lost to her teammate in round one of bracket play.

Einck also faced her teammate in the quarterfinals as two Decorah bowlers made the top eight. Keokuk, which won the team championship on Monday, grabbed spots two, five and seven of the individual bracket play.

But North Scott’s Lindy Dhuse won the individual state championship after rolling three 200-plus games in bracket play.

Dhuse defeated Keokuk’s Jaelynn Ketterer 216-176 in the championship game.

Ketterer advanced past Rule with a 258 in the quarterfinals and then rolled a 225 in the semifinals.

The boys individual champion and the individual runner-up came from the Two Rivers Conference.

ADM’s Cole Darling and Oskaloosa’s Trey VanWyk went 1-2 at the conference meet on Friday and were the last two bowlers standing at state on Tuesday, too.

VanWyk set a new three-game series state record when he bowled an 823 in the opening round of the tournament. That included a 300 in the second game.

Darling entered bracket play in second with a 797 series and Urbandale’s Daniel Timm was fourth with a 728. Darling, VanWyk and Timm all advanced to state out of the Newton state qualifier last week.

VanWyk had the best average of the three games during bracket play as he advanced to the final with a 267 and a 263.

But Darling won the head-to-head matchup in the final game, 232-184, to win the 2A individual title.

VanWyk, a four-time state qualifier, finished his career with one state title and three state medals.

Notes: If Humphrey wants to bowl in college, she appears to have a few options. Coaches from Coe College and Luther College spoke to the Cardinal junior after she completed her three individual games. … Clinton’s Charlie Pelham got things started on Tuesday with a 300 in his opening game. He was the No. 3 seed for bracket play and finished fifth overall. … As an owner of a bowling center herself, Lester did not fault Cadillac XBC for not having some of the lanes oiled and ready to go at the start of Tuesday’s individual round. There appeared to be a mechanical problem with the oil machine. “It was an interesting start to the day,” Lester said. “Those things happen. Drew did the best he could to get things going.”