WICHITA — The Great Bend High School bowling team traveled to Wichita on Saturday to compete in the second annual Great Plains Bowling Tournament.
The tournament consisted of 24 teams of each boys and girls teams.
The Great Bend girls took third place and the boys finished in 10th.
The Lady Panthers were led by Freshman Miranda Hejny, who reclaimed the Great Bend High School’s series record from junior Jacy Quade, rolling a 648 series. A score that earned her fourth place overall.
The girls’ varsity team, consisting of Koa Pelster, Jacy Quade, Maddie Roach, Dariane Marshall, Kelli Kirmer, Erin Bowers and Miranda Hejny, rolled a total pinfall high enough to finish the morning competition in sixth place, advancing them to the Bakers-format semi-final tournament. 
Bakers format means that the girls take turns bowling to complete 1 game as a team. After 12 games, the Lady Panthers finished in 6th place.
Then the GBHS girls moved into the elimination rounds where teams bowl against another team head-to-head to the best three of five games. 
Great Bend challenged host Maize in the first round. Great Bend fell behind two games to one, but the Lady Panthers turned it around, knocking Maize off in the fifth game. 
Great Bend’s next opponent was Class 6A powerhouse Wichita Heights.
Once again, the Lady Panthers took the match to the fifth game but came up short.
In the consolation match, the Lady Panthers faced 6A Wichita East. The Great Bend girls earned third place position by defeating East in four games. 
“Several times, (Hejny) was called upon to have to strike out the 10th, 11th and 12th frames, and she did,” head coach Mike Perry said. “Koa Pelster was the lead-off bowler followed by freshman Erin Bowers. Third was Kelli Kirmer. Fourth was Jacy Quade, and anchor was Hejny. The team had great chemistry all day long. The girls understand what a true team is.” 
The Great Bend boys finished the team competition in 10th place. After 12 games of baker style play, they barely missed the cut of the top eight teams.
The Panthers had three series in the 600 range. Eric Ruiz rolled a 622, Dakota Conaway finished with 619 and senior captain Tyler Jones knocked down 611.
Conaway shot the highest game for the Panthers, scoring 350. Ruiz was right behind with 247 and Jones and Mark Lang each rolled a 245.
The boys averaged just over 200 in the bakers team competition, one of the higher averages in that portion of the tournament. However, they were unable to reach the finals due to the deficit from the morning team competition. 
The Panthers were voted the boys team that exemplified the best sportsmanship.