Varsity bowlers hit the lanes Friday, Feb. 22, at Yankton Family Fun Center, to face off in double-elimination Baker matches for the title of 2018-2019 State Champion. With several strong teams on both the boys and girls side, it made for an exciting tournament.
Thursday Qualifying
Teams were seeded for match play based on their qualifying finishes on Thursday, Feb. 21. Rankings after qualifying portion of the tournament were as follows:
Girls team qualifying results:
- SF Lincoln: 2,802
- Harrisburg: 2,745
- SF Washington: 2,564
- SF Roosevelt: 2,541
- Brookings: 2,502
- SF O’Gorman: 2,395
- Yankton: 2,374
- Canton: 2,258
- Dell Rapids: 2,254
- Brandon: 2,156
- MCM: 1,890
- West Central: 1,804
Boys team qualifying results:
- SF Washington: 3,090
- Harrisburg: 2,959
- Dell Rapids: 2,843
- Yankton: 2,842
- SF Roosevelt: 2,832
- Canton: 2,789
- Brookings: 2,787
- SF O’Gorman: 2,736
- Brandon: 2,713
- West Central: 2,634
- MCM: 2,507
- SF Lincoln: 2,469
The qualifying round featured some amazing individual performances.
Mariah Spotanske, a senior at Harrisburg, had the whole house cheering for her as she rolled the first 10 strikes to finish with a high game of 288. However, her teammate, Morgan Paulsen, stole the show with games of 248, 244 and 246 for a 738 series—her first 700 series. Paulsen’s high series set a state record for highest series by a girl in the SDHSBA’s 17-year history.
Tyler Masching of Washington was named the all-tournament captain after he rolled games of 276, 233 and 223 for a 732 series.
Girls all-tournament team:
- Morgan Paulsen*, Harrisburg, 738
- Brooklyn Gagnon, SF Lincoln, 693
- Mariah Spotanske, Harrisburg, 639
- Rachel Spier, SF Washington, 630
- Bailey Wieseler, Yankton, 606
Boys all-tournament team:
- Tyler Masching*, SF Washington, 732
- Trevor Broshears, SF Washington, 660
- Dylan Klinkhammer, MCM, 657
- Miller Soutar-Bishop, SF Washington, 655
- Dylan Cramer, Brookings, 644
* All-tournament captain
Friday Match Play
As the Bakers matches unfolded, there were many disappointing losses and unexpected wins. Some teams marched straight to the championship match while others had to work their way to the championship match through the losers bracket.
Girls match play summary
The tournament leader and conference champions Lincoln lost to Canton and Brookings to get knocked out of the tournament early on. Roosevelt, who finished the season tied with Washington for second place, worked their way to the championship match. In the championship match, Washington beat Roosevelt to force a final best-two-out-of-three set. With the state title on the line, Roosevelt came out on top, earning their third state championship in the last four seasons.
Boys match play summary
The top-seeded co-conference champions Washington marched their way through the first three matches, but Harrisburg sent them to the losers bracket where they eventually lost to the home alley team, Yankton. The undefeated Harrisburg went on to face Yankton in the final match. It proved to be a very exciting final, as Yankton came back to defeat Harrisburg in consecutive matches, claiming the state championship title for the first time in school history.
Congratulations to the outstanding SDHSBA bowlers, coaches, volunteers and centers for a fantastic season! We wish our seniors the best of luck next year. To our returning bowlers, we look forward to welcoming you back for another wonderful season in 2019-2020.