By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Great Bend High School qualified three bowlers to state in its first year of participation in the sport in 2008. Since then, the Panthers have been one of the state's premier teams, winning girls' titles in 2017, 2023 and 2024, and bringing home a boys' championships in 2013 and a runner-up finish in 2012.
Just two years into unified bowling, which highlights student-athletes with learning disabilities, the Panthers are again making an impact. Great Bend finished ninth last year and won a state championship last month. Freshman Kanyen Parr, who has been bowling since the age of seven, won his first state title.
"Bowling has been my primary sport to go to," he said. "I like it so much because I get to meet new people and go new places."
Parr is no stranger to the bowling alley. His cousin, Paige Wagner, won a national title in her freshman season at Wichita State University. He was able to handle the stress of state bowling, participating in five of the six games bowled.
"I wanted to try my best and see where it takes me," he said.
In 2021, the Kansas State High School Activities Association agreed to partner with Special Olympics Kansas to encourage and develop unified bowling in the state. The sport combines athletes with and without intellectual disabilities. Students with a recognized intellectual disability (the athletes) are paired with classmates (partners). Teams have up to five members with three designated as competitors and two substitutes. The three competing students must include two athletes and one partner. Competitions follow the Baker format with four frames, including the 10th, bowled by the partner, and the other six frames split by the two athletes.
Great Bend had enough athletes for three teams this season but coach David Feldbauer had to pick five bowlers for the postseason. The Panthers qualified for state after a second-place finish at regional action in Cheney. Then the Panthers defeated 19 other schools the following week in Topeka to claim the state championship. Each team bowled six Baker games at state. Great Bend rolled four games over 200 to set a new state record.
"Coach was telling me that we didn't have to bowl our last game to win, which I thought was just insane," said junior Zoey Mayberry, a member of the Lady Panther title teams in 2023 and 2024. "It's really hard to do that. I definitely was not expecting to win by that much, which was really cool."
Mayberry bowled on the school's first unified team last year. She got a late start to the season this year before joining the team that included Payton Edwards, Keaton Wahlmeier, Xander Orth, and Parr.
"We made it to state last year but finished ninth," Mayberry said. "When I realized this was going to be a really good year for these guys after I watched them bowl, I really wanted to be a part of it. I want to help these kids, be around them, and just show them what the sport's all about."
Great Bend was the only squad to break 1,000 pins at state with a total of 1,110. Hays finished second with 945 pins, Liberal placed third with 936 pins, and Garden City completed the top-four Western Athletic Conference sweep with 857 pins. Most of the other schools in competition hailed from the northeast corner of the state.
Parr and Mayberry plan to compete in the regular bowling seasons. Practice begins after the New Year.