Veterans leading young Cardinal bowling teams

Bowling at home is a big advantage for high school teams. Newton High’s Cardinals faced not having a true home bowling alley with the closure of Cardinal Lanes in May.

Cardinal Lanes reopened under new ownership putting those warries to rest. With upgrades to Newton’s longtime bowling alley, Newton High’s four senior bowlers are excited for the 2015-16 season.

“I’m very excited for this season. As a senior, I wanted to bowl here at Cardinal Lanes,” Madison Humphrey said. “I love the lanes. They have done a lot of improvements, including the condition of the lanes and mechanical changes. From a bowler’s perceptive, the changes are tremendous.”

Humphrey, Mariah Gonzales, Bryan McMahon and Shea Carre are the seniors on the NHS bowling teams this season. There are 11 bowlers on the Cardinal girls’ team and the boys’ team has 16 members on it under the second-year head coach Brett Jacobs.

“Being able to call Cardinal Lanes our home bowling center is a big deal,” Jacobs said. “I am very thankful for the McKinneys for pouring a lot of time and hard work into the bowling alley with all the remodeling.”

Jacobs said Cardinal Lanes owners Brian and Lisa McKinney replaced a majority of the bowling equipment to be able to re-open the Newton bowling alley. The Newton school district had made arrangements to call Mustang Lanes in Monroe the team’s home bowling center before the McKinneys purchased Cardinal Lanes.

“We were thankful for Mustangs Lanes allowing us to have that opportunity. It is a good thing it all worked out, especially with Knoxville losing its bowling center. Knoxville’s high school teams are using Mustang Lanes in Monroe now,” Jacobs said.

Jacobs and assistant coach Seth Banwell are reworking the Cardinal teams this season. Both the girls’ and boys’ squads graduated several top bowlers. Newton’s girls were 9-3 in dual meets and the boys went 8-4. Both teams are defending Little Hawkeye Conference champions with the girls going undefeated at 6-0 and the boys posting a 5-1 mark.

“We didn’t lose our home bowling alley, and that’s a big deal,” Carre said. “We can see the improvements helping us already. My average has jumped up since we began practicing. They take care of the lanes, which means the balls are reacting they way they’re suppose to on the lanes. As a bowler, it means there is more consistency to your game.”

Newton’s girls won the Class 2A District 1 substate championship, qualifying for the 2015 Class 2A state tournament. The Cardinals finished fifth as a team with Humphrey leading the way. Humphrey captured the seventh-place individual medal.

Humphrey, Gonzales and sophomore Alyssa White return from the state-qualifying team. Sophomore Kaytie Hughes is the other returning letterman for the girls’ team.

“I’m expecting a lot from our team this season. It’s going to be different because of the people who graduated, but, we have a lot of younger bowlers including freshmen who are eager to fight for a spot on the varsity team,” Gonzales said.

Humphrey pointed out there is a new dynamic to the girls’ team. She said it is a younger team with a lot to work on.

“The top six spots are not set yet. It is wide open,” Humphrey said.

Humphrey earned all-district first team honors. She was a first-team unanimous Little Hawkeye Conference selection. Gonzales was a LHC second-team selection and sophomore Ali Cox earned honorable mention honors.

Humphrey carried the top averages for the team a year ago. She had a total of 4,497 pins, which averaged as 187.4 per game and 374.8 per series.

“My personal goal is to go to state again. It was an awesome experience,” Humphrey said.

Gonzalez finished last year with a 359 average with a total of 3,453 pins. White posted a 3,111-pin total for the season with a 306 series average.

“It feels really good to be able to bowl at Cardinal Lanes this season. Our community wanted it back open and the new owners have done a lot of work along with a lot of volunteers,” Gonzales said.

Newton’s boys team won a district title and qualified for the state tournament in 2014. The Cardinals came up short of a return trip last year.

Carre, juniors Nick VerSteeg and Reid Miller and sophomore Shaiden Simmons were contributors to last year’s varsity team. McMahon, junior Sam Supino and sophomore Reece Thurmond had some varsity action.

“For three years, it has been about teamwork and building each other’s confidence. I’m looking forward in helping to lead the team in all of that as well as bowl well individually as a senior,” McMahon said. “We have a good group this season.”

Carre, who earned LHC second-team honors, rolled a 415 series average a year ago and is the top bowler returning for the boys’ squad. He had a 4,047 pin total. McMahon ended up with a 341 average in limited action.

VerSteeg and Simmons also garnered conference second-team honors last year. Simmons had a 383 average with a 3,652 pin total for the Cardinals as a freshman while VerSteeg posted a 374 average with 2,378 total pins.

Miller had a 372 average with a 3,722 pin total a year ago. Supino was at 341 for a series average and Thurmond ended up with a 286 average.

“I see us being very competitive again this year. We have three or four returning starters for both the girls and boys varsity teams,” Jacobs said.

Newton opens the season Dec. 8 at Marshalltown. The Cardinals host Knoxville Dec. 12 for their home opener at Cardinal Lanes.

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535
or jsheets@newtondailynews.com