By: BRENT MAYCOCK
KSHSAA Covered
Given the performances at the last three Unified Bowling state championships, Benjamin Bergman’s claim was dead on.
“We’ve established that the WAC’s the conference to beat,” the Hays senior said of the Western Athletic Conference’s recent run of dominance at the state tournament, one that continued Tuesday at West Ridge Lanes in Topeka.
Two years ago, Garden City became the first WAC school to hoist the championship trophy, leading a 1-2 finish for the conference after narrowly edging Liberal by seven pins for the title. Last year, it was Great Bend taking its turn at the top with the Panthers leading a 1-2-3 WAC finish with Hays and Liberal taking second and third, respectively.
That foursome went into Tuesday’s meet as the favorites following a 1-2-3-4 regional finish led by Liberal and one in which all four of their team scores were more than 100 pins better than any other regional champion.
But after seeing his conference rivals claim state and regional titles at the Indians’ expense, Bergman was ready for a bit of role reversal on Tuesday.
“It was our time to have the spotlight,” Bergman said. “This was definitely the year for us to do it, our strongest season yet.”
After taking a distant second to Great Bend at state last year and finishing runner-up to Liberal at last week’s regional meet, Hays put everything together on Tuesday and found its way to the top at state.
The Indians posted a total of 1,115 pins that not only was a program-best, but also broke the state record set by Great Bend a year ago when the Panthers won the state title by 165 pins with a 1,110 total. Hays had no such cushion with its record-setting mark as both Liberal and Great Bend finished with totals over 1,000 as well.
Hays’ winning margin was a mere 23 pins as Liberal, which beat the Indians by 40 pins at regionals last week, took second with a 1,092 total while defending champion Great Bend was third at 1,013.
“Regionals was a little bit of a disappointment but we got first at state to make up for it,” Bergman said. “It was tough (at regionals). We didn’t bowl our best, but they had their best score of the season. So I think we just had to prove we could bowl better.”
Hays coach Richard Hodges said the focus at state wasn’t on what Liberal or anyone else had done at regionals. Instead, the focus was internal.
“We don’t come to compete with the field,” Hodges said. “We come to compete with ourselves. Each week, with the exception of one regular season meet, we improved our overall score every single time. That’s really what we wanted to reach. Today was no different. We came to roll one ball at a time and focus on what we can control and then see where we were.
“With the WAC being stout competition, we knew in the back of our heads that if we didn’t deliver, it was going to show up. But as long as we out-did ourselves we had a chance.”
Great Bend, which was a distant third at regionals, got off to a start that showed the Panthers weren’t going to relinquish their title without a fight. The Panthers had the only game over 200 in the first game with a 201 and then followed it up with a 203.
Hays stayed well within striking distance, however, turning in games of 189 and 201 to start to sit at 390 after two of the six games, just 14 behind the Panthers. At that point, it was largely a two-team race with Liberal following an opening game of 184 with a 129.
When Hays put together a 195 third game and Great Bend slipped to a 145, the Indians were well clear of the field.
“We made our shots, then we calmed down for a second, breathe and then focused,” said Indian junior Ethan Kuhlmann. “We just stayed focused. (Coach) helped us and helped me get my good shots and strikes.”
After a bit of a lull in the fourth game with a 148, the heat was suddenly on the Indians. After its down second game, Liberal roared to life with games of 184 and 219 to close the gap on Hays to just 17 pins.
But Hays’ found its groove again in the fifth game with a 226 that was the highest game for any team on the day. Liberal hung tough with a 204 fifth game, but faced a 39 pin deficit going into the last game. It was just enough for Hays to hang on as the Indians finished with a 156, but Liberal only managed a 172 to come up 23 pins short.
Great Bend never really got back into its groove from the first two games with its highest game in the final four a 167 closing game to finish 79 pins behind Liberal in third.
“The kids were huge,” Hodges said. “The biggest challenge for me was just keeping the focus where it needed to be. We don’t take it lightly what we did. We genuinely pride ourselves on focusing what we control and that’s our mindset.”
Bergman and Kuhlmann were joined by juniors Xander Clark, Camaron Daughhetee and Keaton Brown, each seemingly having their moments where they came up with a big spare or strike. Even in a missed mark, the Indians remained upbeat and as they waited for the final team scores to be read off, they huddled in anticipation knowing it was tight with their WAC rivals.
When it was announced they’d won, the celebration began.
“It was really fun,” Kuhlmann said. “I was cheering and I like to cheer and I like my friends. My team helped me. Thanks to them, to God and Go Hays High!”
UNIFIED BOWLING STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS
At West Ridge Lanes, Topeka
TEAM SCORES
Hays 1,115, Liberal 1,092, Great Bend 1,013, Garden City 917, Olathe East 823, Chanute 810, Campus 798, Basehor-Linwood 797, Shawnee Mission East 790, Washburn Rural 772, Shawnee Mission Northwest 764, Lansing 748, Olathe Northwest 745, Free State 735, Blue Valley Northwest 722, Olathe West 721, Seaman 721, Baldwin 708, Blue Valley North 696, Turner 679.
