WICHITA — Great Bend's state bowling champion Kaylin Wahlmeier was 'struggling' when her teammates backed her up.
A brief pep talk by Great Bend coach David Feldbauer inspired eighth-place medalist Wahlmeier, who believed she was letting her teammates down after an individual 5-1A state championship last year.
Wahlmeier delivered a 237 game and rolled brilliantly with strikes and spares in eight consecutive frames in the 4-game Baker format. The Panthers averaged 196 in four Baker games.
"Coach (David) Feldbauer, helped me," Wahlmeier said. "I came in with a lot of pressure. My first two games were not where I wanted to be. After my third game, I felt better and was ready for Bakers. I'm happy for my team."
Once Wahlmeier paused for a moment, she got rolling.
"Kaylin was scared to let everyone down, but I got her to break free and bowl like she always has," Feldbauer said. "She led us in game 3 and led us in Bakers. She loves her team. She's extremely proud to help bring that state trophy back home."
There were tears of joy and disbelief when it was officially announced that Great Bend (3,161) won the school's second 5-1A girls state bowling championship by 83 pins over Salina South (3,078).
Great Bend saw a 128-pin lead sliced to 47 pins when the Salina South Cougars fired 244 and 214 Baker games. Wahlmeier stopped the comeback with a trio of 10th-frame strikes to cap a 214 third game that gained 23 pins for a 70-pin margin. Sixth-place medalist Zoey Mayberry and 16th-place Emilee Nelson marked seven of eight Baker frames. Seventh-place medalist Sahara Rhiza and 19th-place medalist Aliyah Fryberger converted six of eight times.
"Our last set brought us up where we needed to be and the Baker games sealed it," Feldbauer said. "Salina South scored two good Baker games. It was getting closer, but I knew if we scored 780 or higher, we'd be fine. We had five girls bowling over 550, which we hadn't done all year. They all came out and competed. I'm extremely excited."
It was truly a team effort.
Mayberry, 591 (175-212-204) and Nelson, 565 (203-160-202) fired a pair of 200-plus games. Rziha, 586 (206-194-186), Wahlmeier, 584 (176-171-237) and Fryberger, 555 (161-210-184) contributed with consistent games. Paige Heine, 340 (139-107-90) was the Panthers' sixth member of the state championship team.
Nelson played her best at the state tournament with a pair of 200-plus games for the first time.
"I placed 73rd last year. I was very surprised," Nelson said. "I've been sick the past three days and was hoping to score in the 400s. I've never scored a pair of 200s in a series. I scored one and thought 'whoa' that was cool. I did it again. Five or us in the top 20 in insane."
Rhiza kept the Panthers afloat with a 400 score in the first two games.
"I was excited the way we started," she said. "I'm proud and excited to place at state. We played our best and didn't worry about a score. Having everyone play well, made everything fun. It was awesome to score five medalists."
The freshman Mayberry owns a bright future from a bowling-oriented family.
"I'm proud of how we've improved," Mayberry said. "We were shooting low 500s, some high 400s. Now we're getting closer to 600s. I'm proud I enjoyed a good day. Everyone does their part in Bakers."
Mayberry realized all with good with the bowling world when she left four pins in a split shot during a Baker game.
"I left 4 pins out there and missed all of them again," she said. "We laughed about it. So, we had fun."
Salina South's Rylee Lambeth captured 5-1A medalist honors (641, 167-258-216), four pins ahead of Topeka Seaman's Katie Price (637, 257-189-191).
GREAT BEND BOYS — Panther bowler Caleb McNett placed 72nd (510, 166-140-204) in the boys division.
5-1A GIRLS TEAM SCORES—1—Great Bend 3,161, 2—Salina South 3,078, 3—Topeka Seaman 3,007, 4—Buhler 2,898, 5—Maize South 2,827, 6—Goddard Eisenhower 2,741, 7—Wichita Carroll 2,718, 8—Emporia 2,711, 9—Lansing 2,679, 10—Topeka West 2,622, 11—Lenexa St. James 2,492, 12—Leavenworth 2,491
SERIES—1—GB 2,376 (760-787-829); 2—Topeka Seaman, 2,315 (815-772-728); 3—Salina South, 2,248 (713-795-740)
BAKER—1—Salina South, 800 (244-214-191-181); 2—GB, 785 (217-160-214-194); 6—Topeka Seaman, 692 (162-146-220-164)
TOP 20 MEDALISTS—1—Rylee Lambeth, Salina South, 641 (167-258-216); 2—Katie Price, Seaman, 637 (257-189-191); 3—JaeLinn Thetford, Seaman, 624 (167-243-214); 4—Cheyenne O'Connor, Salina Central, 596 (182-236-178); 5—Alex Coykendall, Salina Central, 593 (171-211-211); 6—Zoey Mayberry, Great Bend, 591 (175-212-204); 7—Sahara Rziha, Great Bend, 586 (206-194-186); 8—Kaylin Wahlmeier, Great Bend, 584 (176-171-237); 9—Paige Schuler, Maize South, 576 (177-197-202); 10—McKenzie Welch, Buhler, 575 (177-215-183); 11—Chloe Glaser, Hutchinson, 574 (214-218-142); 12—Cassidy Reno, SM Miege, 573 (159-215-199); 13—Paighton Crumley, Andover Central, 573 (184-201-188); 14—Olyvia Choura, Eisenhower, 572 (207-214-151); 15—Rylee Surritte, Lansing, 566 (191-184-191); 16—Emilee Nelson, Great Bend, 565 (203-160-202);17—Aviana Ordonez, Salina South, 556 (194-199-165); 18—Brenna Rutschmann, Topeka West, 556 (177-168-211); 19—Aliyah Fryberger, Great Bend, 555 (161-210-184); 20—Cheyenne Turkin, Seaman, 552 (214-169-169)
