Burlington and Antigo won the boys/co-ed titles, Kenosha Tremper and Beaver Dam claimed the girls titles, and Hunter Greifenhagen and Brystal Beyer took the singles titles at the 2019 Wisconsin High School Bowling State Championships at Ashwaubenon Bowling Alley in Ashwaubenon over the weekend.
The tournament was webcast on Craig Elliott's BowlStream TV and the archives can be found at this page. Hall of Famer Liz Johnson was on hand for the weekend representing Storm.
The 2-division team portion featured 48 boys/co-ed teams and 27 girls varsity teams, compared to 48 and 26 in 2018 and 50 and 28 in 2017, while the singles portion will feature 98 boys and 60 girls, compared to 94 and 54 in 2018 and 100 and 56 in 2017. Those bowlers come from 13 districts. The tournament awarded thousands in scholarship funding.
The lane patterns were Kegel Beaten Path 4541 for the singles qualifying on Friday, Kegel Bourbon Street 6240 for the team qualifying on Saturday, and Kegel High Street 8144 for the Storm Scholarship Doubles on Sunday. The singles and team patterns are used throughout those competitions.
Full results and the lane patterns are in PDFs attached to the bottom of this story.
In Division 1 boys/co-ed, Burlington edged top seed Sun Prairie 411 (210-201) to 404 (214-190). Sun Prairie had earned the top seed 3,344-3,133 over Oak Creek, while Burlington only made the stepladder by eight pins over Kenosha Bradford.
Sun Prairie anchor Austin Est needed a double in the 10th to put the pressure on Burlington. He got the first strike, but then left a 2-4-8 on a light hit and Burlington got a 7-count on its first shot for the clincher.
La Follette from Madison area District 4 finished 15th.
Sun Prairie ended up being the only top seed not to win the title.
In Division 2 boys/co-ed, top seed Antigo routed Ashwaubenon 430 (193-237) to 323 (146-177). Antigo earned the top seed over Ashwaubenon 3,165-3,091.
Monona Grove from Madison area District 4 finished sixth, missing the stepladder by 30 pins.
In Division 1 girls, top seed Tremper edged Oshkosh West 383 (200-183) to 376 (204-172) for its third straight title, and second straight over Oshkosh West.
Oshkosh West, the No. 4 seed, beat No. 2 seed Sun Prairie in the semifinal match 434 (182-252) to 394 (176-218).
In Division 2 girls, top seed Beaver Dam beat No. 4 seed Monona Grove 411 (190-221) to 390 (212-178).
In boys singles, Greifenhagen of Wisconsin Dells defeated Hunter Lawless of Portage 219-160 to win the title.
Kyle Hintz of Amherst highlighted the singles with a perfect game in the second match before he fell to Lawless 205-197 in the semifinal, getting the first strike in the 10th but leaving a 6-10 on his second. Here is video of the close of his 300, which included a nice break on his final shot, as he earned a $100 scholarship bonus.
In girls singles, Beyer of Manawa defeated Morgan Eidsor of Tremper 205-159.
The Storm Scholarship Doubles also was held over the weekend. The results are here.
The event drew 181 boys/co-ed and 49 girls entries, and scholarships twent to the top 18 boys/co-ed and top five girls teams.
The boys winners were Michael Rogers and Ben Nowacki of Waterford with 932 for the $500 first place scholarship. The last cash was 873. Kelly Whipple and Chase Heling rolled the tournament’s high game of 289 as they ended up 14th.
The girls winners were Stephanie Handford of Kettle Moraine and Taylor Jensen of Sun Prairie with 925 for $300. The last cash was 872. High game for the girls was a 270 by Caitlin Powers and Allison Powers.
The 2018-19 high school season ends on Saturday with the Wisconsin All Star Challenge at Classic Lanes Fox Valley in Neenah.
For the All Star Team Challenge on March 9, the defending champions are District 9 for the girls and District 4 for the boys/co-ed.
The tournament is supported by 900 Global, which will have 2017 PWBA Rookie of the Year Daria Pajak on site.
The format is 3 games of traditional team bowling at 9 a.m., then 10 games of Baker format bowling at 1 p.m., with the top 3 teams advancing to stepladder finals to determine the champions.
The WI HSBC will award $1,700 in scholarships ($1,000 team & $700 singles).
There is a $5 admission fee for all spectators over the age of 10.
The team photos below are courtesy of the BCAW.