May 12, 2024

Newton girls win conference bowling title, boys finish third

Price wins conference title, Keith finishes as the girls’ runner-up

By Troy Hyde

Newton's girls bowling team won the Two Rivers Conference title on Thursday, finishing with a season-best 2,676 pins. Abby Price, third from left, won the individual conference title, while Libbie Keith, fourth from the left, was the runner-up. (Submitted photo)

DES MOINES — Another big day on the lanes led to a Two Rivers Conference championship for the Newton girls’ bowling team on Thursday.

Abby Price won another conference title, Libbie Keith turned in a career-best performance to finish as the runner-up and the Cardinals cruised to the conference team title at Great Escape.

The Newton boys’ bowling team was third behind Bondurant-Farrar and Norwalk.

“Both teams were on fire today,” Newton bowling coach Christie Hughes said. “Coach Banwell and I couldn’t have asked for much more from either team. We are very happy with how well they performed as a whole.”

Newton’s top five female bowlers placed in the top 15 and the Cardinals won the conference title with a season-high 2,676 pins. Bondurant-Farrar was second but finished 273 pins behind the Cardinals. Oskaloosa (2,155), Knoxville (2,085), Norwalk (2,017), Sigourney (1,943), Pella (1,866) and Pella Christian (1,483) completed the field.

Price won the conference with a 441 series. She opened with a 224 and finished with a 217. It was the second time this season she put together back-to-back 200 games.

Keith was at her best on Thursday. She opened with a 176 but then rolled a career-high 202 and totaled a career-best 378 series. Bailey Hansen finished fourth overall with a 338 series after single games of 199 and 139.

The other two top 15 finishers were Jenna Miller and Genessa Slings. Miller was 10th with a 315 series after individual games of 163 and 152. Slings finished 15th with a 309 series. She rolled a 143 and a season-best 166.

Beka Weithers was the final girls’ varsity bowler and she finished with a 235 series after single games of 123 and 112.

Ben Zeien

On the boys’ side, Ben Zeien was fourth overall with a career-best 447 series. He had individual games of 233 and 214.

“We are very happy to have had so many top finishers,” Hughes said. “This group of kids has really stepped up and laid it all out on the lanes.”

The Cardinal boys had a team score of 2,548 pins. Bondurant-Farrar won the meet with 2,925 pins followed by Norwalk with 2,790. The rest of the field included Oskaloosa (2,545), Knoxville (2,455), Sigourney (2,414), Pella (2,305) and Pella Christian (2,038).

Norwalk had the top two finishers, but Bondurant-Farrar took spots 3-5-6-7.

Finishing after Zeien for the Cardinals was Thomas Hodnett, who rolled a 324 series. Hodnett had single games of 164 and 160.

Owen Guldberg rolled a 321 series with single games of 128 and 193 and Dallas King had a 310 series with individual games of 185 and 125.

Logan Bown rolled a 292 series and Sebastian King tallied a 280 series. Bown had single games of 152 and 140 and Sebastian King rolled games of 139 and 141.

“The boys were really bowling as a team today,” Hughes said. “We are really pumped going into the state qualifying meets.”

The Cardinals will be back at Great Escape for the Class 2A state qualifying meets. The boys compete at 1:30 p.m. on Monday, while the girls roll at 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday.

Bowling