2023 BOYS BOWLING PREVIEW
 

 
CLASS 6A
 
2022 State champion: Shawnee Mission East
 
2022 State runner-up: Derby
 
2022 Individual state champion: Wally Workman, Shawnee Mission East
 
2022 Individual state runner-up: KJ Burns, Garden City
 
2022 Review: Led by individual state champion Wally Workman and a balanced team effort overall, Shawnee Mission East captured the first championship in program history, beating Derby by 107 pins with a total of 3,363. East led Derby by just 14 pins going into the Baker format of the state competition, but opened with marks in its first nine frames and never really looked back, expanding on its slim lead to turn it into a runaway win. Not only was it the first state title for the Lancers, but their first state bowling trophy ever as well. East got a clean sweep of the titles as Workman led three Lancer medalists in first, while Brady Aebersold took sixth and Jack Shelton finished ninth. Workman opened his state tournament with games of 249 and 251 to take a 33-pin lead into the final game of tenpins. Despite faltering a bit in the final game with a 199, his 699 series was good enough to just hold off Garden City’s KJ Burns, who came on strong late with a 234 final game and finished three pins back with a 696. Campus’ V-Thoon Thanasouk also finished with a 234 final game and took third with a 689. Junction City took third as a team, 79 pins behind Derby.
 
2023 Contenders: The depth Shawnee Mission East had a year ago led to some tough decisions for Lancer coach Fred Elliott as to how to shape his roster for last year’s postseason team with East going 8-10 deep. That could pay dividends this year as the Lancers try to go after a second straight title. The Lancers lose individual state champion Wally Workman and sixth-place finisher Brady Aebersold, but Jack Shelton returns after taking ninth. He was one of just two underclassmen on the state team last year along with returning junior Zach Sederquist, who had a rough state tournament but took eighth at regionals last year. Derby lost top bowler Jason Miller, who led the state with a 232 average last year. But Colby Hedden wasn’t far behind with a 224 average and actually placed higher at state last year, finishing fourth, just 13 pins out of first. He’s one of three returners for the Panthers along with sophomore Dawson Baumgartner, who was 24^th at state and 13^th at regionals. Third a year ago, Junction City arguably could be the team to beat this season. The Blue Jays return all but one of last year’s six-member state squad and the lone loss was the sixth bowler. Three Blue Jays finished in the top 20 at state last year – seniors Logan Lindsley (14^th) and Torrey Lindsay (16^th) and sophomore Cael Smith (17^th) while fellow sophomore Landyn Ziegenhirt was a regional champion last year as a freshman. State runner-up KJ Burns returns to lead Garden City after the Buffaloes finished fourth as a team last year, just 23 pins behind Junction City. While the Buffaloes graduated five seniors, including former state champion Kaden Whitehurst, only three were on last year's state team, giving Garden City a solid nucleus to build around. Olathe Northwest and Lawrence tied for fifth last year and Northwest could vault into the trophy hunt returning everyone off last year's team, including medalist Thomas Mitchell. Lawrence will take a hit, losing four seniors and perhaps seventh-place finisher Maison Albarado, who was undecided about coming out this season. Olathe South also could make a big move up the standings with all but one of last year's state bowlers back. The Falcons' PJ Dokolas held one of the top averages in the state last year and should be hungry after a disappointing state meet. Olathe East will have to replace the 1-2 punch of Matthew Eddy and Brett Gamber, but returning senior Logan Bennett held the top average on the team at 203 and is one of four returners from last year's state team.
 
 

 
CLASS 5-1A
 
2022 State champion: Seaman
 
2022 State runner-up: Kapaun Mt. Carmel
 
2022 Individual state champion: Cody Metz, Washington County
 
2022 Individual state runner-up: Patrick Bloomer, Kapaun Mt. Carmel
 
2022 Review: Returning pretty much everyone from its 2021 state championship team, Kapaun Mt. Carmel seemed well on its way to a title defense when it wrapped up the tenpins portion of the 2022 state tournament with a seemingly commanding 95-pin lead over Eisenhower and 98-pin lead on Seaman. Particularly with the Crusaders going into the Baker format with all six bowlers having topped 200 in their final game of tenpins. But Seaman had flourished in the Baker format all season long and rose to the occasion at state. Posting four games of 208 or better in the Baker, the Vikings leapfrogged both Eisenhower and Kapaun, finishing with a 3,483 pin total that was good enough to beat Eisenhower – which also moved up – by 11 pins and Kapaun by 21. The title was the second in four years for the Vikings, who capped their Baker games with a huge 256 score to complete the comeback victory. The battle for the individual title was a dandy as well. Kapaun's Jack Bloomer opened state with a 279 to lead by 12 pins over Wichita Trinity Academy's Brady Longenecker. But after both slilpped to the 180s in the second game, Washington County's Cody Metz stormed into the lead on the strength of games of 226 and 257. Metz finished with a 230 in the final game and it was just enough to hold off Bloomer and Longenecker, who finished strong with games of 245 and 246 respectively. Metz finished with a 713 series, beating Bloomer by 3 and Longenecker by 13. Metz became the first individual state champion from a Class 1A school in the 5-1A division.
 
2023 Contenders: Despite graduating a pair of seniors off last year's state roster, Seaman is more than equipped to defend its state title this season. Returning senior Ethan Burns held the top average in Class 5-1A last year and was in contention for the individual title last year before slipping to 10th. Fellow state placer Zander White (17th) also returns, as do sophomore Alexander Prescott and junior Riley Parkhurst, who both finished top 45 last year at state. All four held averages of 193 or better last year. Kapaun Mt. Carmel, meanwhile, will be in reload mode after all six of last year's state contingent graduated. The Crusaders had 10 total seniors last year, leaving plenty of holes to fill. Returning senior Daniel Noel was tops among the underclassmen last year with a 171 average. Eisenhower also has to reload after graduating seven seniors, including five of six off the state squad. Junior Brett Blasi is the lone returner off last year's runner-up team and ranked fourth on the team last year with a 190 average. Leavenworth finished fourth as a team last year, just ahead of Bishop Carroll and is in the same boat as Kapaun, having to replace every member of last year's title team. Carroll returns seniors Nathaniel Brake and Ray Brogan off last year's state team with Brogan finishing 26th at state and Brake owning the higher season average, ranking fourth on the Golden Eagles a year ago. Led by third-place individual finisher Brady Longenecker, Wichita Trinity Academy could climb into contention for a team title this season. Four other state participants return for the Knights, who finished sixth overall but were right in the mix for a trophy heading into the Baker. Buhler also returns five of its six state bowlers, led by fifth-place finisher Trent Sheridan, as does De Soto, which is led by Antonio Miranda and Colby Lovegren. Piper also returns five from its state roster and Salina South returns four, but neither had a bowler hit a 600 series at state a year ago, so improvements will need to be made to make a serious run at a high state finish this season.