It was a busy day at Sweet 16 Lanes as the Bulldog bowling teams hosted numerous other schools at their Class 2A state qualifying meet on Tuesday.
The state qualifying meet followed a brand-new format that included a 15-baker game team tournament and an individual three game tournament. The Le Mars girls placed first in the team tournament portion punching a ticket to state by shooting a 2766. Le Mars girls bowling coach Gary Brady says that the new format really played to his team’s strengths.
The Bulldogs started things off slowly opening the day with a 151 in baker game one and a 159 in baker game two before cracking 200 in baker game three. Coach Brady says his team could respond well thanks to the competition they experienced all season.
The Bulldogs take a lot of momentum into the state tournament having never lost a dual this season. Coach Brady says they have a lot of confidence for being a younger team.
Coach Brady says that the confidence his team has allows them to potentially be very successful at state as long as they respond to coaching.
The individual tournament followed the team baker tournament, and the Bulldog girls earned five of the eight individual qualifying spots at yesterday’s qualifying meet. (Natalie Vanderloo, Bailey Gill, Kaitelin Konz, Trinity Brunsting, and Emily Peters) The medalist at the girl’s individual tournament was MMCRU/RSM’s Brenna Staab who shot a 637.
The Le Mars boys also earned a state qualifier in the individual tournament. Zach Dempster bowled a great tournament scoring 266, 224, and 238 for a second-place total of 728. Le Mars boys coach Travis Jones says that Dempster has made a lot of progress to get to this point.
The Le Mars boys came up third as a team in the baker tournament missing out on the state tournament by 228 pins. Coach Jones says that, while it’s a disappointing way for the season to end, he’s proud of how the team stuck together this season.
Full team results with individual state qualifiers can be found by clicking here.
