Westside bowlers end historic season at State

The Westside girls and boys bowling teams headed into State Championships looking to continue on their historic season. After both teams won their districts, they both received the eighth seed in the state tournament on Monday, Feb.6 at Sun Valley Lanes in Lincoln.The Warriors faced the number one seed in the first round. The teams also had five single qualifiers compete in the state tournament as well. 

The Warrior girls team had an extremely tough draw in round one against the undefeated Fremont Tigers. Westside fell 3-1 to Baker, falling into the loser bracket. In the next round the Warriors lost 3-0 to the Grand Island Islanders. 

The Warrior boys had a similar run through the state tournament, falling 3-1 in round one to Grand Island. In the next round the boys lost 3-1 to the Lincoln Southwest Silver Hawks. Senior Xander York thought it was a tough day on the lanes for the Warriors.

“State we did what we could, we didn’t have the energy we needed and half the team was in their head the whole time,” York said. “We just couldn’t stick it all together.”

The performance by the Warriors is not exactly what they had hoped for, but they gained something many teams didn’t. The experience the teams gained at state is unmatched, realizing what they need to improve on heading into the offseason and next year. Sophomore Vince Combs believes the future is bright for the bowling program.

“We did good at state as teams,” Combs said. “I feel that we could have done better, but thats what next year is for.”

The singles went much better than the teams for the Warriors, the five qualifiers did pretty well on Wednesday, Feb 8. The two boys York and junior Reed Elias, who both competed in the state tournament didn’t make the eight bowler championship, but still did well with all things considered. The three girl qualifiers did well too. Standout Jordyn Shields qualified for the eight bowler championship. She won her first match 391- 300 in the two game total. In round two she fell 385- 286 to the number one seed. 

“I started off terrible, I feel like my shot was way off and I was just thinking about it too hard.” York said. “I changed balls and just called down and shot way better saving myself from doing insanely bad.”

The team wants to continue to build off this year to continue into next season, making a deeper run at state. Learning what they did in state this year they hope to be able to use the experience to help next year. 

“What I learned most at state is making small adjustments makes a world of difference,” Combs said. 

The Warrior bowling team’s historic season came to an end after their solid state performance. The bowling program is still fairly young, this is just the beginning to something very special for the Westside bowlers.