By Brent Maycock
KSHSAA Covered
WICHITA – The hardware Kaylin Wahlmeier carried around Northrock Lanes following the completion of Thursday’s Class 5-1A state bowling championships was heavier than the one she collected in 2022.
Instead of wearing the gold medal around her neck, the Great Bend junior cradled the team state championship trophy in her arms.
The hardware was slightly different but the feeling felt familiar.
“It’s about the same,” Wahlmeier said after helping Great Bend to its first state championship since 2017 after taking the individual state title last year as a sophomore. “Individually, it’s a little more self-proud. As a team, it’s a people proud. It’s Great Bend proud.”
Great Bend should be proud of the effort the Panthers put forward Thursday at Northrock Lanes. Getting contributions across the board, Great Bend started strong and got better as the day went along.
The Panthers built a 61-pin lead over defending champion Topeka Seaman coming out of the three ten-pin games. They steadily pulled away from Topeka Seaman and hard-charging Salina South to capture the state championship. Placing five individuals in the top 20, Great Bend finished with a 3,161 total and topped South by 83 pins for the team championship.
“We didn’t do the best we’ve ever done, but the girls came together and had strong series,” said Great Bend coach David Feldbauer. “We had two clean Baker games. We battled all the way through. They kept their heads in it and threw good balls all day. We battled a few tears, but we made it work. I’m proud.”
Great Bend finished 21 pins behind Salina South at last week’s regionals. Third at state a year ago and runner-up in 2021, the Panthers knew they had what it took to win the state championship. The Panthers won the Great Plains Invitational at Northrock in January, topping a loaded 33-team field by nearly 400 pins. They claimed the Western Athletic Conference title over 6A power Garden City.
Depth has been the Panthers’ key all season and that depth was on full display at the state meet. Great Bend’s top-five bowlers combined for seven tenpins games of 200 or better. Just as importantly, none had a particularly off game with the lowest score from any of the five a 160 game.
The result?
All five of those Panthers – Wahlmeier, senior’s Sahara Rziha and Aliyah Fryberger, junior Emilee Nelson and freshman Zoey Mayberry – earned state medals with top-20 individual finishes.
“I’ve got five super-strong girls that have bowled really hard and really well all year,” Feldbauer said. “They’ve won just about everything we’ve gone into, the Great Plains, the WAC and then we bowled extremely well today at state.”
Last year, Wahlmeier had one of those stellar state performances, shocking herself when she claimed the individual state title as a sophomore with a monstrous 752 series.
“I was not expecting that at all,” she said. “It was very shocking.”
It set the bar high for Wahlmeier. She answered the bell throughout the season, holding the top average in the state during the regular season at 209. She admitted, she felt the burden of wearing the title of reigning state champion.
“It was lot of pressure,” she said.
Wahlmeier’s bid to repeat faced a serious uphill battle when she opened with a 176 game that left her 29th. When she followed with a 171, her title chances were over.
But seeing her teammates thrive while she struggled to find her groove kept her head up.
“When I was struggling and just trying to pick up as many pins as I could, I did get a little upset,” she said. “I was watching my teammates do so well and excel while I was struggling. They were picking me up and I knew I could pick them up too.”
Wahlmeier closed with a 237 game that vaulted her into the top 10 individually, taking eighth with a 584 series.
Her teammates, meanwhile, delivered time and time again. Rziha and Nelson each posted 200-plus games in the first game and then Fryberger and Mayberry came through with 200-plus games of their own in the second game. Wahlmeier, Mayberry and Nelson each added 200-plus games in the final as Great Bend steadily improved its team total throughout the tenpins action.
The Panthers posted a 760 first game, moved to 787 in the second game and then finished with an 829 to post a 2,376 tenpins total that was 61 ahead of Seaman’s 2,315.
“We just tried to do our best and not worry about the score,” Rziha said. “It was very infectious.”
Indeed, it was. Mayberry enjoyed arguably her biggest day, unaffected by her first state appearance. Her 591 series wasn’t her highest score of the season, but it paced Great Bend’s state championship effort and put her in sixth place individually.
Rziha was right behind in seventh with a 586 series followed by Wahlmeier in eighth with a 584. Nelson came through with a 565 series that placed her 16th and Fryberger made it one more medalist in 19th with a 555 series.
“It was a huge tone-setter,” Feldbauer said. “Having a few girls that hadn’t rolled the greatest lately come out and kept their attitude up, their momentum going and really came through big. And that carried them through the day.
“Emiliee’s been fighting some things this year and threw her highest set of the year. Sahara finally came through at state and her her best set here. Zoey, our freshman, led the team. Just super-proud of them today.”
Things can swing greatly in Baker play, but Feldbauer knew his team wouldn’t flinch. And they didn’t, opening with a 217 game that, combined with an opening 162 from Seaman, opened up a commanding lead.
The heat in the team race eventually came from Salina South, which started Baker play 128 pins down but closed the gap quickly. The Cougars posted a huge 244 game to start Baker and then followed with a 214 to pull within 47 pins of Great Bend’s lead.
The Cougars cooled off slightly in the final two Baker games with a 191 and 181 and when Great Bend posted a 214 in its third Baker game, it essentially clinched the title.
“The Baker games went extremely well,” Feldbauer said. “I love Baker. It shows who actually has a team and who just has a couple good bowlers.”
South’s Baker performance vaulted them past Seaman into second place as a team. The Cougars didn’t get off to the start they had hoped for, but saw sophomore Rylee Lambeth capture the individual state title with a 641 series and brought home a trophy after missing out by one spot a year ago when they finished fourth.
“I’m happy with anything,” South coach Seth White said. “We made it here, and that’s what I tell the girls every single year. Don’t put too high of expectations on yourself because you don’t want to let yourself down. It’s one of those , you made it to the state competition, you’re one of the best 12 teams in the state of Kansas. That’s already something to hang your cap on. So go have fun and be happy with what you got. Bringing home a trophy at the end of the day, that’s a good day.”
Topeka Seaman went 2-3 individually with Katie Price runner-up with a 637 and JaeLinn Thetford third with a 624. But the Vikings’ slow start in Baker play cost them a shot at repeating last year’s championship.
