The Great Bend Panther bowling squads made an early departure from town on Saturday morning as they traveled to The Alley in Wichita for the 8 team Andover Tournament. In girls action it was sophomore Allie Brodrick who led the way with her team high 560 series. Following close behind was sophomore Kylynn Keeler with a 533 series, senior Abby Rose with a 515 series and senior Addie Soukup with a 514 series. The Lady Panthers finished in fourth place as a team. Brodrick’s 560 series earned her a 5th place finish, Keeler’s series earned her an 8th place finish, and Abby Rose finished in the 10th position. The girls earned a 4th place finish at the tournament.
The Panther boys dominated the first part of the tournament as they finished the qualifying round in first place by rolling a 2706 series which was 185 pins ahead of Maize South. Senior Jeff Mietler led the panther attack by bowling games of 237, 279, and 228 for a 1st place series of 744. Sophomore Jacob Holden also had a career series as he bowled games of 226, 248 and 227 for a 2nd place 701 series. The Panther boys claimed four of the top 10 medal place as Mietler’s 744 was 1st, Holden’s 701 was 2nd, freshman Kameron Keener had a series of 629 for a 6th place medal and senior Alex Morgan’s 9th place series of 595 which included his career high game of 256. The Panther boys cruised through the Baker competition until the final match. Maize South won game one and the Panthers won game two. In the final game the Panthers finished their game before the 10th bowler from Maize South bowled. He needed to throw three strikes in a row to make the game a tie and force a 4th game. He calmly threw the first two balls for strikes and on his final ball he apparently knocked down nine pins but a pin rolled across the deck and hit the last pin standing to earn the tie game. In the final game Maize South began with five strikes in a row and defeated the Panthers by 20 pins for the championship.  
The next action for the Panthers will Thursday when they travel to Garden City for the WAC Tournament which will begin at 12:30 p.m.