Cardinal girls punch ticket to state

PLEASANT HILL — Newton freshman Libbie Keith missed the Cardinal bowling team’s first three competitions of the season.

But once she joined her varsity teammates, she has done nothing but improve at almost every meet.

On Tuesday, Keith proved she’ll be a force to reckon with the next three seasons. And her career-best series earned her an automatic bid into next week’s state tournament.

Joining Keith will be the entire Cardinal girls’ bowling squad as Keith and senior Abby Price went 1-2 at the Class 2A District 5 meet at Great Escape. Newton earned the automatic bid into the 2A state meet after winning the district title.

It will be the Cardinals’ first trip to the state meet in five years.

“Coach (Seth) Banwell and I couldn’t be happier with how well the girls have developed as a team this year,” Newton bowling coach Christie Hughes said. “They set a goal early on to perform as a team and make it to state together. We were all pretty excited when we realized they were headed there.”

Price could join Keith as an individual qualifier but some district meets were moved to Thursday because of weather. Price could be an at-large qualifier. The five district champions automatically qualify for state but there are seven at-large spots, too.

Price and Keith also were 1-2 at the conference meet last week with Price winning and Keith finishing second.

“To have the two top bowlers at conference and then again at the state qualifying meet is pretty amazing,” Hughes said.

Led by Keith’s all-time best series of 418, the Cardinals had a team score of 2,627 pins. Host Bondurant-Farrar was second with 2,453 pins.

The difference came in the Baker games as Newton led 1,688-1,654 after the first two games. The Cardinals held a 939-799 advantage in the Baker games. Newton had a 201 in the first Baker game and a 222 in the last.

The rest of the field included Norwalk (2,165), Pella (2,060) and Des Moines North (1,019).

“It feels great,” Price said about qualifying as a team. “It really sunk in when we were holding the banner and taking pictures with it. The ride home was very exciting.”

The Cardinals’ best two days of the season came in the past two competitions and both were recorded at Great Escape.

That’s similar to Keith’s trajectory as she went over 200 in a single game for the first time in her career at the conference meet last week. On Monday, Keith rolled a 200 in the opener and turned in a career-best 218 in the second game.

“I’ve been working on slowing my feet down, keeping my arm tucked and following through on my release,” Keith said. “What works for me is setting myself up and relaxing before I throw.

“It’s crazy to me that I am a district champion considering I didn’t want to even go out for bowling in the beginning.”

Price was the district runner-up with a 373 series. She was 18 pins better than third place with single games of 204 and 169.

Sophomore Bailey Hansen finished 10th overall with a 306 series after single games of 158 and 148.

Freshman Genessa Slings had a career-best 191 in her second game and a 111 in the first game for a 302 series. Slings finished 12th overall. Before Monday, her best single game was a 166.

Senior Jenna Miller was 15th overall with a 289 series following single games of 132 ad 157. Freshman Beka Weithers had a 134 and a 137 for a 271 series.

“We are all on cloud nine and overjoyed to be state qualifiers,” Keith said. “Our team encourages each other to do their best, even when we aren’t at our best. We can’t wait for state.”

For Keith, the 418 series she turned in on Monday is her only 400 series of the season so far. But she started the year with a 250 series and had four total competitions with a series less than 300.

Things have turned for the better lately and she hopes to continue her upward trend at the state meet.

“Libbie has spent a lot of extra time on the lanes and has really developed her mental game,” Hughes said. “She’s in a really good mindset right now.”

The 2A Iowa High School Girls State Bowling Championships will be at 2 p.m. on Monday at Cadillac Lanes in Waterloo.

The five district team champions automatically qualify for the state meet, but there are three at-large qualifiers that will complete the eight-team field.