Newton boys bowling wins, girls take second in West Des Moines

Freshman Bryan McMahon led all bowlers and the Cardinal boys earned a victory in a five-team field at Val Lanes in West Des Moines. For the second meet in a row, the Newton girls made a comeback after a slow start, but took second place to Knoxville.

"The boy's have shown some marked improvements throughout the season and are starting to realize their full potential," Newton coach Seth Banwell said. "They are consistently making great shots and stringing some strikes together. This is evident by the high Baker scores they demonstrated today."

McMahon earned a first-round total of 402 thanks to a 198 and 204 in his individual games. Freshman Jake Karlzen wasn't far behind with a 395 (201, 194), while senior Dylan Van Sickle was next with a 376 (183, 193), sophomore Alex Bare had a 299 (147, 152) and Sebastian Peters rounded out the first-round scores with a 293 (158, 135). Sophomore Payton Cox also recorded a non-scoring round of 293 (141, 152).

The Cardinals rolled that momentum right into the Baker games and had score of 193, 192, 221, 194 and 185 for a second-round total of 985. Added with the first-round scores, that put Newton a solid 132 pins ahead of second-place Norwalk with a total of 2,750.

On the girls' side, Newton was led again in the first round by freshman Madison Humphrey, who had games of 185 and 151 for a total of 336. Sophomore Erica Bailey rolled a 324 (188, 136), senior Bethanie Hughes was next with a 299 (150, 149), fellow senior Ella Daft had a 291 (126, 165) and junior Bailee Stier had a 288 (171, 117). Sophomore Courtney Tabor had a non-scoring total of 256 (115, 141).

"The girls made some improvements after their last meet but couldn't catch Knoxville for the second straight meet," Banwell said. "The lane conditions were very tough today. The approaches were sticky and the lanes were very dry, especially on the outside."

In the Baker games, Newton had scores of 126, 168, 126, 193 and 173 for a second-round total of 786. The Cards' grand total of 2,324 put them 124 pins behind Knoxville.