It was a good way to ease into the season for the Great Bend High School girls’ and boys’ bowling teams.
The Panthers are 2-0 after beating Salina Sacred Heart and Wichita Collegiate, and the Lady Panthers are 1-0, toppling Collegiate.
“We ended up sweeping all, the boys and girls JV and varsity,” GBHS head coach Mike Perry said. “We had a lot of jitters out there. We missed a lot of easy spares, and we had trouble hitting our marks. We do have a lot of young freshmen out, and they were kind of nervous. Then there is a couple people that hadn’t bowled varsity. They were JV last year, and they told me that they did feel a little more pressure today.
“It was kind of nice for us to open with non-conference opponents. Usually we open up with either Dodge or Garden, but we snuck this in in the first week to hopefully minimize the anxieties.”
The boys finished with a total of 2,335, placing them ahead of Salina Sacred Heart, which bowled a 2,127, and Collegiate, which finished with a 1,907.
The girls bowled a 2,067 collectively to finish ahead of Collegiate’s 1,376.
The boys were led by junior Mark Lang, who finished with a 593 series. His top game was 216.
“It was the first meet of the year, and we just wanted to come out and establish ourselves,” Lang said. “We didn’t want to have too many jitters and just wanted to come out and bowl well. Overall, I’m pretty happy. I think my second game could have been a little better, but all-and-all it went pretty good.
“I’m just trying to be a leader. We have a lot of guys who are able to be a leader, and I just wanted to come out and establish myself as a leader today.”
Dakota Conaway, Great Bend’s top state-finisher, taking fourth place last year, finished with 581. He bowled a 213 for his highest game.
Eric Ruiz, the returning Western Athletic Conference champion, finished with 578.
“On the boys side, we had a host of juniors in there,” Perry said. “Lang had the top series with 593 and Danny Herrman had the top game with 236. Conaway and Ruiz were right there too, so those are our four scorers. We’re missing Colt Ramey, who had to sit out due to some team infractions. We’ll have him back next week.
“We want to be shooting around the 2,600 mark, so we’re about 260 to 270 pins from where we want to be. It’s just nice to have one under our belt before Dodge comes in on Monday.”
The Lady Panthers, whoare the returning WAC champions, were led by sophomore Miranda Hejny.
“It could have been better, but it could have been worse,” Hejny said of her series. “For a first match, it wasn’t bad. This is nothing that I haven’t done before, but coming into the first match, I was a little nervous. I want to work on slowing down, definitely. Just trying to keep everything consistent and competitive.”
Hejny finished bowled games of 182, 196 and 181 for a series of 559.
Jacy Quade finished with 496, and Maddie Roach bowled a 494.
“The girls shot a 2,067,” Perry said. “That’s probably 250 to 300 pins from where we want to be, so we know we have work to do. We’ve got some youth in there that were mainly JV last year, so I’m pleased with it. We just know we’ve got work to do.”
GBHS hosts Dodge City on Monday at 3 p.m.

HIGH SCHOOL BOWLING

At Great Bend

Thursday

GIRLS

Team standings
1. Great Bend, 2,067; 2. Collegiate, 1,376

GBHS results
Varsity
Miranda Hejny, 182-196-186 — 559; Jacy Quade, 137-156-203 — 496; Maddie Roach, 150-120-224 — 494; Kelli Kirmer, 157-168-134 — 459; Jessica Sterba, 138-148-164 — 450; Alex Eye, 116-117-144 — 377.
Junior varsity
Courtney Seever, 179-159-137 — 475; Sterling McAllister, 157-148-146 — 451; Abby Rose, 127-123-144 — 394; Addie Soukup, 125-115-134 — 374; Marissa O’Connor, 105-102-127 — 324; Kira Bunn, 85-94-88 — 267.

BOYS
Team standings
1. Great Bend, 2,335; 2. Salina Sacred Heart, 2,127; 3. Wichita Collegiate, 1,907

GBHS results
Varsity
Mark Lang, 202-175-216 — 593; Dakota Conaway, 188-213-180 — 581; Eric Ruiz, 198-201-179 — 578; Daniel Herrman, 159-172-236 — 567; Jared Smith, 136-188-165 — 489; Jeff Meitler, 139-141-126 — 406.
Junior varsity
Kevin Coleman, 156-157-140 — 453; John Baker, 164-158-126 — 448; Matt Black, 125-159-133 — 417; Alex Morgan, 124-130-148 — 402; Gregg Hunter, 119-93-152 — 364.