Great Bend High School sophomore bowler Erin Bowers made the most of her game back on Monday after a car accident on Dec. 15 sidelined her for the season opener.
Bowers bowled games of 265, 222 and 189 at Walnut Bowl to finish with the team-high series of 676 in match play.
“I thought they were awesome since they were my first whole games of the season,” Bowers said of her games. “It gave the rest of the team confidence, and it gave some of the girls the fire to beat me. It gave me more reason to keep doing better for the rest of the match.”
The Lady Panthers, who are now 3-0 overall, finished with a total of 2,887 after both match play and Bakers-format play to beat Western Athletic Conference foe Dodge City (2,183) and Holcomb (2,087). The boys are 4-0, bowling a 3,109 to beat Dodge City (2,657) and Holcomb (2,644).
“We stepped it up a notch,” GBHS head coach Mike Perry said. “I think you could tell the difference between this week and last week. We weren’t near as nervous. I think the confidence started building. Once you get things to go your way a little bit, you start going like a steamroller. The boys and girls are both good at staying together as a team, picking each other up. The scores really showed that.”
The WAC is handling conference standings differently this season. The conference will be decided using both formats of competition — match format and Bakers format.
In Bakers format, the six varsity bowlers are split into five bowlers and one alternate who can be substituted in during any game. The top five bowlers get two frames each game, bowling in order from the fifth-highest scorer to the top scorer.
“The way the WAC scoring, we’ve changed it,” Perry said. “Each game we bowl is one point and each Bakers game we bowl is one point. Then we add up total pins and that is one point.”
The girls, the defending WAC champions, went 7-0 to begin conference play. The boys dropped one game to finish 6-1 in the WAC.
“The boys really showed that they could take care of business today,” Perry said. “We lost that last game in Baker-format play there, but you know, 6-1 is a good start. We want to be 7-0, and of course we’re a little disappointed that they took that one from us, but we did what we wanted to do in match play.
“The girls took care of business form the get-go. It doesn’t hurt when Erin comes in and throws that huge game right off the bat. that takes pressure off of our No. 1,2 and 3 bowlers when your No. 4 bowler steps up and does that.”
Miranda Hejny, the defending WAC champion, was the No. 2 bowler for the Lady Panthers. She bowled 199, 190, 238 for a series of 627.
Eric Ruiz led the boys with both the high game and high series. Ruiz, the defending WAC champion, bowled a 275 in his third game to fall 25 pins short of a perfection to finish with a 677 series.
“I shot two alright games, and for that last game, I just made a ball change and got inside a little more,” Ruiz said. “My partner, Dakota (Conaway), every time he strikes, I want to strike. Yeah we’re a team. I love him, but we’re both the same. We want to beat each other. We push each other. That’s why we bowl together. We came out as a team, we bowled well, so I’m pretty happy with it.”
Conaway bowled 190, 218 and 222 for a series of 630.
Great Bend travels to Salina Sacred Heart on Thursday.

HIGH SCHOOL BOWLING

At Great Bend
Walnut Bowl

Monday

GIRLS
Team results
Match play
1. Great Bend, 2,336; 2. Dodge City, 1,781; 3. Holcomb, 1,708.
Bakers format
Great Bend, 172-158-221 — 551; Dodge City, 149-129-124 — 402; Holcomb, 136-119-124 — 459.
Great Bend results
Varsity
Erin Bowers, 265-222-189 —676; Miranda Hejny, 199-190-238 — 627; Maddie Roach, 188-149-152 — 489; Jacy Quade, 158-167-150 — 475; Sterling McAllister, 111-146-210 — 467; Kelli Kirmer, 146-155-155 — 456.
Junior varsity
Jessica Sterba, 131-177-189 — 497; Alex Sterba, 197-113-119 — 429; Abby Rose, 151-133-126 — 410; Addie Soukup, 116-101-176 — 393; Courtney Seever, 96-114-143 — 353.

BOYS
Team results
Match play
1. Great Bend, 2,521; 2. Dodge City, 2,657; 3. Holcomb, 2,644.
Bakers format
Great Bend, 188-202-198 — 588; Dodge City, 175-149-206 — 530; Holcomb, 164-155-148 — 467.
Great Bend results
Varsity
Eric Ruiz, 198-204-275 — 677; Dakota Conaway, 190-218-222 — 630; Mark Lang, 213-215-188 — 616; Daniel Herrman, 211-147-215 — 573; John Baker, 157-172-144 — 473; Kolt Ramey, 134-149-126 — 409.  
Junior varsity
Jeff Meitler, 173-190-179 — 542; Matt Black, 220-157-148 — 525; Alex Morgan, 182-180-149 — 511; Jared Smith, 177-173-145 — 495; Kevin Coleman, 129-133-144 — 406; Hunter Gregg, 87-122-93 — 302.