Great Bend Post Sports
It was a full weekend of bowling for the Great Bend High School bowlers at the Great Plains Invitational Friday and Saturday in Wichita. The Lady Panthers won the 32-team tournament last year and entered bracket play Friday as the No. 2 seed. They bowed out early with a loss to eventual finalist Goddard-Eisenhower. The Panther boys failed to make the final round of eight.
Bowlers rolled a regular series and teams bowled 12 Baker games. The top-five series and the Baker scores were used to see the teams, with the top-eight squads moving on to a bracket-style competition of Baker games.
Salina Central's Rocelyn Show had the high-series at 632. Campus' In all, just three girls reached 600 series. Kaylin Wahlmeier struggled to a 144 in her middle game but shot a 206 and 195 to finish with a 545 series. Paige Heine rolled games of 191 and 189 to also finish at 545. Zoey Mayberry opened with a 202 en route to a 528 series. Brooklynn Mayberry opened with a 181 and finished with a 471 series, and Emilee Nelson topped out with a 158 middle game for her 417 series. Emery Meza rolled a 360.
Great Bend had big Baker games of 191, 181, 195, 193, and 202 to qualify for bracket competition in the No. 2 spot behind Campus. Facing off against Eisenhower in round one, the Lady Panthers dropped game one 200-178, took game two 215-131, but fell flat in a third game 190-125. Eisenhower rolled 200 or better in three of its final four games of the tournament but fell to Campus 189-161 and 215-210 in the finals.
Thirty-five bowlers in boys' action Saturday surpassed 600 pins. Six of those bowlers rolled 700-series. Wichita Heights' Carson Ford and PJ Level led the way at 738 and 734, respectively.
Brantley Vsetecka rolled a 136 in his first game but finished with games of 208 and 198 to lead the Panthers with a 542 series. Daegen Miller overcame a slow start to finish with games of 199 and 187 for a 530 series. Quinten Miller opened with a 171 on the way to a 438 series, and Josh Manning finished with games of 170 and 153 to end at 431. Keaton Wahlmeier also made the count with a 389. Kayden Detrich shot a 345.
Emporia took the final bracket spot with 5,232 pins. Great Bend finished 26th with 4,025 pins. The Panthers rolled a 205 late in the Baker games but followed that with a 115 and 116 to drop out of contention of advancing.
The Panthers bowl at home Monday against Hays, and stay at the Walnut Bowl for action against Dodge City and Holcomb on Thursday.