The Great Bend Lady Panthers claimed the 2nd place trophy at the 2016 State Bowling Tournament at North Rock Lanes in Wichita. The Panthers came up just 16 pins short of the 1st place team from Goddard Eisenhower. The ladies from Great Bend found themselves in 8th place after the first game. “We were very loose and relaxed coming into the tournament but during our first game we let the pressure get to us,” said coach Mike Perry. “Heading into the tournament coach Mayberry and I felt like this tournament was ours,” said Perry. “We needed to avoid a slow start and be in the top 3 after the first game,” the coach added. However, the Lady Panthers began to make a comeback during the second game. After the second game stats were announced the Lady Panthers found themselves in 5th place. “Bowling is a very demanding game mentally and coach Mayberry and I had talked about getting the girls fired up and trying to make a push to climb into one of the top 3 positions. We got the girls together and we told them this is our time, this is our moment, go after this and leave no doubts and have no regrets.” The girls responded in a big way and a frenzy of strikes ensued from all of the players. “Coach Mayberry can read the lanes as well as anybody in the state, and he said we needed to move all of our players to the outside so that’s what we did,” said Perry. About half through the final game junior Captain Allie Brodrick got the girls together and pleaded with them to keep their focus and follow the game plan. The plan and the pep talks worked as the Lady Panthers rolled the best series of any team in the final game. “The Panther fans were amazing,” said Perry. “I mean we are bowling against Bishop Carroll in their home house and our fans were rocking, as the chants of “Here we go Panthers here we go, and GB What? were heard echoing throughout the south end of North Rock Lanes.”
Sometimes big things come in small packages and that was just the case for the Lady Panthers. Sophomore Jordan Vsetecka picked a great time to bowl her best game and best series or her high school career. The scrappy sophomore bowled games of 181-204-234 for a 6th place series total of 619. Going into the 8th frame of the last game Vsetecka told coach Perry, “I think I’m going to get my first 500 series of the year.”  “Jordan was so focused on how she was bowling that she had no idea that she was about to bowl not only her first 500 series of the year but also her first 600 series,” said Perry. Junior Allie Brodrick also picked up the pace tremendously in the final game as she rolled a team high game of 243. Brodrick added games of 182 and 181 for a series total of 606 which was good enough to claim the 9th place spot.
All the Lady Panther had games that counted and all bowled 500 series or better for the first time all season long. Regional Champion, senior Hanna Pfeifer rolled a series of 539 followed by juniors Kylynn Keeler’s 532 series, Elsi Miller’s 524 series, and McKenzy Black’s 503 series.  The girls were finally able to bring back some hardware for the GBHS trophy case. “This will be a something these girls and this team will remember for the rest of their lives,” said Perry. “We took second place and we battled and competed as a team from start to finish. These girls have nothing to hang their heads about with this ending. I told all of them before we started the day that we were all family, we are in this together and that I loved all of them as if they were my own daughters. Then I told them to have fun and enjoy the moment!” Perry added.
In boys action, the lone competitor from Great Bend was sophomore Kameron Keener. Keener bowled a nice series of 633 pins but was unable to finish in the top 20. “I was very proud of how Kameron performed in his second state tournament. It’s hard to compete by yourself in the biggest tournament of the year without your teammates,” said Perry. Keener was a member of last year’s 3rd place Panther team.