Newton girls return to top of Two Rivers Conference

OSKALOOSA — Bondurant-Farrar broke Newton’s seven-year run at the top of the Two Rivers Conference last season.

The Cardinals’ run ended by a mere 15 pins. This year, the Newton girls’ bowling team started another championship streak.

A stretch of four Baker games of at least 185 early put Newton in front for good and the Cardinals coasted to the league championship at Statesmen Lanes on Friday.

Newton finished with 2,538 pins in the 15 Baker games. Oskaloosa was second with 2,412 and defending conference champion Bondurant-Farrar took third with 2,301.

In the individual portion of the conference tournament, Genessa Slings won her first title and Libbie Keith finished third. Five of the six Cardinal bowlers were in the top 20 and three placed in the top five.

The Newton boys had a tough day on Saturday but improved their position from last year by three spots. The Cardinals finished in fifth place with a score of 2,795. The difference between third and ninth was only 114 pins.

Gilbert won the conference team title with 3,285. Host Oskaloosa finished closely behind in second with 3,141. Bondurant-Farrar (2,811) was third and Pella (2,796) was one pin better than Newton in fourth.

The Newton girls started with a 161 and trailed B-F by three pins after the first Baker game. But a stretch of 195-185-201-193 put the Cardinals in front for good. They maintained around a 100-pin advantage the rest of the way and added a 215 and another 185 before they were done.

Oskaloosa moved into second with back-to-back games of 188 and 224 but finished with a 135 and a 148. B-F’s best two games were the 169 and 173 it finished with.

Newton’s best order and lineup for the Baker games was Beka Weithers, Gabbie Humphrey, Slings, Bailey Hansen and Keith. Nevaeh Bown replaced Keith for the 14th game and bowled for Weithers in the final Baker game.

The rest of the 10-team field included Ballard (2,121), Gilbert (2,097), Pella (2,093), Norwalk (2,057), Pella Christian (2,005), Knoxville (1,959) and Sigourney (1,437).

Slings rolled a three-game series of 551 to win her first conference title. She was second last year and 15th as a freshman. Her single games included 140, 190 and a career-best 221.

Keith’s third-place finish included single games of 160, 205 and 166. Her 531 series was 15 pins back of runner-up Maeci Williamson of Bondurant-Farrar. Williamson finished third last year.

Keith, who was ninth last season and second as a freshman, ended up three pins in front of Weithers, who finished fourth with a 528 series.

Weithers’ single games were 157, 194 and 177. She finished seventh last season.

Humphrey’s first conference tournament featured single games of a career-best 192, 150 and 141.

Humphrey’s 483 series put her in 13th and Hansen was 16th with a 472 series. Hansen, who won the conference title last year and was fourth as a sophomore, had single games of 137, 168 and 167.

Bown was the final Cardinal bowler and she had a 378 series with single games of 130, 132 and 116.

Newton’s boys totaled four Baker games better than 200 and had five more better than 180. But the Cardinals couldn’t keep up with the consistency of Gilbert and Oskaloosa though.

Gilbert rolled at least a 202 in each of the first 10 games and rolled a 213 and a 257 in two other games. The Tigers also went higher than 220 six times.

Oskaloosa started with a 214, went higher than 202 for nine straight games and then finished with a 215 and a 220.

Newton was narrowly defeated for third because Bondurant-Farrar went 200 or higher in five games and rolled a 244 in the 14th game. Pella went past the Cardinals because of its final stretch of 299, 236, 220 and 220.

After the boys’ top five, the rest of the 10-team field included Norwalk (2,748), Ballard (2,743), Sigourney (2,726), Knoxville (2,697) and Pella Christian (2,000).

The Cardinals used Jordan Killmer, Sebastian King and Austin Kennedy for all 15 Baker games. Andrew Wiles, Logan Bown, Tamion Adams and Owen Guldberg also were used for the Bakers.

King highlighted the Cardinals in the individual portion of the conference tournament. He finished 19th with a 554 series. His single games were 192, 160 and 202.

Wiles was next with a 551 series and Killmer (526), Adams (525) and Kennedy (507) also went beyond 500.

Wiles’ single games were 200, 169 and 182 and Killmer rolled 159,179 and 188.

Adams started with a 168 and finished with a 202. He had a 155 in between. Kennedy also ended with a 202 and began with 175 and 130.

Logan Bown also bowled for the Cardinals and had a 478 series. His single games were 153, 167 and 158.

Gilbert’s Toby Ruba won the conference title with a 746 series. He had single games of 222, 224 and a perfect 300.

Pella’s Carter Failor was the runner-up with a 721 series. He had a 289.

Oskaloosa’s Trey VanWyk, last year’s conference champion, started with a 290 and also had a 226 but his 713 netted him a third-place finish.

Notes: Prior to both tournaments, the conference coaches announced the all-conference teams for the regular season. Earning first-team all-conference honors for the girls were Keith, Weithers and Hansen. Slings and Humphrey both were second-team picks and Nevaeh Bown and Olivia Pickerell collected honorable mention recognition. Killmer was the lone first-team selection for the Cardinal boys, while King and Kennedy each earned honorable mention recognition. … The Newton boys finished fifth in the team race one season after coming in eighth. The Cardinals were third two years ago and second three seasons ago. … Bondurant-Farrar’s girls won the conference title last year with a score of 2,358. Two years ago, the Cardinals rolled a 2,676 to claim their seventh straight conference title.