By Becky Walz,
The Decorah boys and girls bowling teams were proud to showcase their second and third place trophies Monday after the Class 2A state bowling tournament in Waterloo. Pictured are (front, l-r) alternates Gavin Luzum, Kennady Riehle, Kaelyn Kuhn, Beau Newhouse; (middle) Marri Feuerhelm, Jasera Tweten, Addison Wicklund, Asmere Jensen, Rylee Averhoff, Karlie Einck; (back) assistant coach Michael Bruening, Cain Monreal-Rice, Tyler Novak, Bryce Elsbernd, Jordan Sims, Alex Maki, Jace Buddenberg and head coach Keith Bruening. (Photo courtesy of Amy Averhoff)
In the nine seasons since their introduction, the Decorah bowling teams have continued to grow and prove the Vikings are a solid program as was apparent this week at the state bowling tournament in Waterloo at Cadillac XBC.
Runner-up boys
The boys team left it all on the lanes during the team competition Monday, finishing second to Lewis Central.
In the pre-bracket 15 baker game round, the Vikings were seeded second with a 3,229 tally behind Waterloo East who had 3,254. Baker game scores for Decorah were 243, 199, 213, 150, 246, 192, 234, 216, 223, 177, 233, 203, 246, 243 and 211.
With the brackets set, the Vikings contended with Council Bluffs-St. Alberts in the semifinals, winning 3-2. Decorah dropped the first baker game 161-183 and bounced back to win the next two 224-217 and 264-188. Dropping the fourth 156-257 forced a fifth tie breaker game which the Vikes took 200-172 to put Decorah in the championship match with Lewis Central.
Lewis Central was hot out of the gate, winning 258-182 and 256-225 over the Vikings. Decorah bounced back in game three to win 200-171 but tied with Lewis Central at 182s in game four to drop the match 3-1 and finish as the Class 2A runner-up team, one spot ahead of where the Vikings placed a year ago.
Bronze for girls
The Viking girls were looking to improve on last year’s fifth-place finish and that they did as they took third in Class 2A Monday.
In the qualifying baker rounds, Decorah finished with 2,766 pins for the No. 3 seed behind LeMars (2,931) and Keokuk (2,869). Baker games were 159, 196, 194, 150, 182, 168, 235, 210, 163, 200, 187, 157, 204, 191 and 170.
In the semifinal, the Vikes opened bracket play against Keokuk, one the first baker match 189-173 before falling in the next three, 155-159, 165-188 and 139-166. From there it was on to the match for third place against Clinton, which Decorah won 3-2. The two squads went back and forth as Clinton took game one 201-184 and three 213-167, while the Vikes won games two (213-141) and four (237-174) to force a game five and come away with the 190-162 victory.
Individuals
After the long day of competition, four Vikings returned to Cadillac XBC Tuesday morning for the individual portion of the tournament.
Contending for medals in the girls’ competition were juniors Karlie Einck and Marri Feuerhelm. After the three-game preliminary round, each earned a spot into the eight-person bracket play. Einck was the top qualifier with a score of 693 (266, 203, 224), while Feuerhelm was eighth with a 601 (226, 152, 223).
That set up the two facing each other in the first round of the medal round. Einck got the better of her teammate 248 to 210 to advance to the semifinals against Lindy Dhuse of North Scott who edged the Viking by seven pins, 200 to 193, sending Einck to the third-place match. One pin separated Einck from the bronze as Clinton’s Emily Whitehead won 212 to 211.
Feuerhelm had dropped to the consolation bracket, falling to Natalie Alberts of Keokuk 207-174 and eventually the seventh place match versus LeMars’ Jenna Fisher. Feuerhelm came out on top of that match 201-170 to earn seventh.
Representing Decorah in the boys’ individual competition were senior Jordan Sims and junior Jace Buddenberg. Sims missed the bracket play by 11 pins, finishing the three-game prelims with a 700 (193, 270, 237) in 11th. Buddenberg capped off his day and tournament in 20th place with a 640 (192, 203, 189).
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