Broken Bow Bowling claim District and State Championships
BROKEN BOW - The past two week’s have been one for the ages for the Broken Bow Bowling Team. In this time span, they were able to capture a Central Nebraska Bowling Club Boy’s District Championship and a Boy’s State RunnerUp finish.
According to Coach Charlie Herman the team’s success this year has not been a surprise. The group has put in a lot of work to get to the point where they can compete with the best of the best in the area.
“Year’s of experience and dedication to the sport have gotten them to this point,” Herman said. “Lizzy, Shay, and Wyatt have been bowling as early as five years of age. Brady, Buddy, and Lanita joined the team three years ago and have always been eager to learn and improve. I’m so impressed with the strides they’ve made. I wish I had more time with them, as they seem to improve greatly year after year.”
At Districts on Feb. 7 at the Big Apple in Kearney the group was up against nine schools of all different sizes in the boy’s division.
The group didn’t buckle under pressure and ended the day in first place with a score of 2,844. This score is figured based on the total pin fall after four team games.
Leading the way for the Indians was Shay Herman with a 254 game and a huge series of 691. Wyatt Woodward also had a good showing, bowling a 195 game.
At the State Tournament on Feb. 14 at Westside Lanes in Grand Island, Broken Bow was the top seed. The tournament was a double elimination format. Each match between the schools was the best three out of five baker games. That is when multiple bowlers combine to bowl one game.
They defeated Grand Island Northwest twice 3-0 and Kearney High narrowly 3-2. It was York the group couldn’t get by, as the Dukes beat them twice 3-1.
When looking back on how the team did this weekend, the one word that came to mind for Charlie Herman was outstanding.
“This bowling club consisted of schools from all classes, so having a front seat and watching them defeat Class A schools was quite a treat for this guy,” Herman said. “Also, when we were faced with switching lanes after each match, they were able to adjust on the fly so quickly by paying attention in practice. It was nothing short of astonishing.”
Besides just getting Runner-Up at State, two Broken Bow bowlers were honored as District All-Tournament Team. Shay Herman was the singles champion and team captain with a 691 and Woodward was fourth with a 554.
When asked what will be the one thing Charlie Herman will miss about this group, it was their leadership since five of six of the kids were seniors.
“This group as a whole was quite fun to coach, I’m not sure who enjoyed practices more, them or me,” Herman said. “I know I laughed plenty and I will miss them a great deal.”
Charlie Herman would also like to thank the parents of the athletes who were always their to support the team and cheer them on. It was greatly appreciated.
Congratulations to the Broken Bow Bowling team on a successful 20202021 season. We are all so proud of what you were able to accomplish!
GERING - The Class B No. 6 Broken Bow Wrestling Team finished their excursion out to Gering with a Runner-Up finish at the B-4 District on Feb. 13. The Indians scored 145 points and were 14.5 points behind Class B No. 1 Gering.
“We would have like to get first, that’s for dang sure,” Broken Bow Coach Ed Schaaf said. “We had some opportunities where we could have made the score a little bit closer, but we just didn’t get it done.”
The quality of the Indians wrestling program was definitely on display with two District Champs and seven other qualifiers for the State Meet for Broken Bow.
Earning District Championships at their weight classes were Lathan Duda at 195 pounds and Sawyer Bumgarner at 285 pounds.
Duda’s first match in the quarterfinals ended with him pinning Christopher Ruano of Cozad in 0:41. He did the same thing to Fredy Vargas of Lexington in the semifinal, this time in 0:45.
In the finals, the 47-0 senior was set to take on Hunter Ahrendt of Sidney. Like his previous opponents, Duda’s physicality and speed were too much for his opponent and he pinned him in 1:17.
Bumgarner continues to prove he is a force to be reckoned with at 285 pounds for the Indians this year. He has only lost three times all season and has won 40 matches. This has all come after not competing on varsity a season ago at districts.
In the quarterfinals, he received a bye, and then he pinned Ethan Libich of Gothenburg in 0:27 to reach the finals. In that match, he went up against Reid Steinbeck of McCook and was able to pull out a 9-5 decision.
Earning second-place finishes for Broken Bow were Cyrus Wells at 126 pounds, Trey Garey at 138 pounds, Connor Wells at 145 pounds, Max Denson at 170 pounds, and Keifer Anderson at 220 pounds.
Cyrus Wells began his tournament with a pin in 1:33 over Sawyer Therrien of Gothenburg. From there, he earned an upset over Class B No. 2 Paul Ruff of Gering with a 4-3 decision.
It didn’t get any easier for Cyrus Wells in the finals against Class B No.1 Paul Garcia of Scottsbluff. This time he came out on the short end in a 9-2 decision.
At 138 pounds, Trey Garey pinned Zane Stoike of Alliance in a 1:30 and then won a 9-4 decision over Abe Mendez of Gothenburg. In the finals, Nate Rochelau defeated him in 1:38 with a pin.
To reach the championship match at 145 pounds, Connor Wells scored an exciting victory over Asa Johnson of Alliance. In a close back and forth match, the sophomore won a 5-4 tie-breaker.
Against Gage Stokey of Ogallala in the finals, Connor Wells struggled to earn points and as a result, lost a 5-1 decision.
Denson had an exciting day all-around for Broken Bow, scrapping and fighting to the very end in each of his matches.
In round one, he defeated Eli Boryca of Cozad with a 2-1 decision, and then followed that up with a 3-1 sudden-victory over Sawyer Haag of Chadron. In the finals, he ended up getting pinned by Jacob Awiszus of Gering in 0:51.
Running through the first two rounds at 220 pounds was Anderson for the Indians. He pinned Jade Brown of Cozad in 0:21 and Colton Donason of Ogallala in 1:26.
He ended up losing in the finals to Class B No. 1 Alec Langan of McCook with a 9-5 decision to take home the silver medal.
Also qualifying for Broken Bow were Chauncey Watson at 106 pounds and Wilson Cucul Tzin at 113 pounds with fourth-place finishes. Watson won a 2-1 decision over Abel Flores of Gothenburg and Cucul Tzin pinned Bryson Bussinger of Cozad in the consolation semifinals to reach state.
According to Schaaf, the focus heading into next week is to get medals and compete to the best of their abilities in Omaha.
“We want to wrestle well and go get medals and then the team race will take care of itself,” Schaaf said. “We’ve preached all year long that if we win positions and we win points will end up winning matches. We will have to grind out for 8.5 minutes or be prepared to do it.”
With the way things are set up this year with state due to COVID-19, Broken Bow will be competing on Feb. 19 and 20 in the Class B State Tournament at the Qwest Center in Omaha.
For complete results from the B-4 District Meet and for up to date info on the state tournament results check out the sports tab at custercountychief.com. Also, don’t forget to grab your Feb. 25 edition of the Custer County Chief for a photo of all the state qualifiers who competed down in Omaha.