After a long season beginning in early August, the boys bowling team is expected to go to Lincoln for state bowling on Saturday, December 8. The boys bowling team has earned five state championships and has also won their districts ten years in a row.
Seven of the thirteen boys on the team will be bowling in the qualifiers on Saturday at Hollywood Bowl, and the top two teams finishing will bowl at Sun Valley Lanes on Sunday.
The bowling season started in August with tryouts, which is different now than the past years since it has always been a winter sport.
“The biggest challenge was that we moved to fall and tryouts were in August and traditionally bowling is a winter sport so most of the kids had not picked up a ball since March. It was really difficult to put together a team that could compete together in only three weeks,” Coach Scott Denman said.
Individually, some players had their own struggles throughout the season. For sophomore Cooper Beahm, breaking his leg set him back, but also created a challenge for him to overcome and be a better athlete.
“Towards the middle of the season, I broke my leg which made it hard to get back and bowl. By the end of the season, I competed at districts with the rest of the varsity and we ended up winning,” Beahm said.
Even though Denman has been a coach for only three years, he knows that going into state, it’s best to just relax and enjoy the experience.
“I want the boys to have fun. Sometimes they bowl really well but don’t get too excited about it, they just do it methodically and take care of business. I would love to see them advance again,” Denman said.
Joining the bowling team offers an opportunity for students ranging from sixth to twelfth grade to meet new people that have the same interests as them.
“I started bowling in sixth grade and learned that I really like it because of everyone on the team and because it was an individual sport that I could always be working to get better at,” Beahm said.
Over the past couple of years, the bowling team has advanced to state but hasn’t completed their end goal of winning. This year they have high expectations to take state and show people that they can compete against the harder teams like Grand Island and Lincoln.
“I would love to see them go back and prove to everyone that we belong in class A. I’m proud of them no matter how they play, we’ve had a solid season this year and have some good younger players that will stick around for a while,” Denman said.
