WICHITA – Mulvane senior Joseph Cervantes didn’t wake up feeling like a champion Thursday.
 
The Wildcat bowler didn’t feel like his normal self at all.
 
“I actually got sick at the beginning of the day,” Cervantes said. “I think I ate something bad the night before and I started getting a little bit of food poisoning this morning.
 
“It happened during the (Class 4-1A) girls tournament. I was going to go either way, even if I had to go to the bathroom 50 times.”
 
All’s well that ends well, at least in terms of Cervantes’ high school bowling career. Rolling a career-best 713 series at Bowlero Northrock, Cervantes won the 4-1A individual boys title and led the Wildcats to a second-place finish behind Hayden in the team competition.
 
While trying to help his teammates catch hot-shooting Hayden, Cervantes scored a come-from-behind victory in his first and only state appearance. He trailed opening-game individual leader Jackson Sopinski of Bishop Miege by 21 pins after rolling a series-best 247, then was 31 pins behind frontrunner John Strickland of Hayden after two games. Cervantes surged past Strickland and four other bowlers into the top spot with his closing 241.
 

Cervantes won the individual competition by nine pins over Andale sophomore Konnor Bretthauer, the Ark Valley-Chisholm Trail Division III-IV champion.
 
“I just kind of kept it to myself and focused on one shot at a time,” Cervantes said. “Just took my time.”
 
Cervantes said he couldn’t have fathomed becoming Mulvane’s first boys state bowling champion at the start of the season. And especially not after the Clearwater regional on Feb. 24, when he rolled a season-low 465 series to finish 27^th.
 
He found his groove in the Baker format at regionals, helping the Wildcats outduel Circle by 28 pins for the title with a 3,159 pinfall. The tournament proved to be a microcosm of his season.
 
“I’ve had my ups and downs,” Cervantes said. “Regionals was actually pretty bad. I just couldn’t figure it out. I started getting in my head the first game.”
 
Cervantes posted the high series at a season-opening triangular and did it again at a dual meet with El Dorado in late January. Prior to Thursday, his best series of the season was a 679. He also rolled a 641 to finish third in the AVCTL III-IV meet, 36 pins behind Bretthauer.
 
On Thursday, Bretthauer rode Cervantes’ coattails to the runner-up finish. Starting the final game one pin behind the Wildcats in seventh, Bretthauer moved up with a 233 and finished with a 704 series.
 
“I started off my season struggling a little bit,” said Bretthauer, who rolled his first 700 series of the season Thursday. “But then we worked on some stuff, changed up a few things. I got a lot more consistent and worked on hitting marks, repeating shots.”
 

Bretthauer, one of two medalists for Andale along with 12^th place finisher Dugan Trempe, helped the Indians win their first state boys bowling trophy. Andale finished third with a 3,415 pinfall total, behind Hayden’s 3,666 and Mulvane’s 3,571.
 
Cervantes’ season average dipped just below 200 after regionals. But on Thursday, he was one of three Wildcats who finished in the top 20 along with sixth-place Jaxon Hornecker, who rolled a 677 series, and the other Wildcat senior, Dagan Dannels, who finished 19^th with a 610.
 
The trio helped Mulvane average 227 in the four-game Baker set and comfortably hold its place behind Hayden.
 
“It’s an amazing way to finish my senior year,” said Cervantes, who joined 2017 Class 5-1A girls champion Addyson Schiffelbein as Mulvane state titlists. “We’ve been putting it together as a team this year. I have good teammates. We’ve hyped each other up.”
 
CLASS 4-1A BOYS STATE MEDALISTS
 
1. Joseph Cervantes, Mulvane, 713; Konnor Bretthauer, Andale, 704; 3. Trevor Christy, Hayden, 698; 4. Tanner McAllister, Hesston, 693; 5. John Strickland, Hayden, 685; 6. Jaxon Hornecker, Mulvane, 677; 7. Chase Blaser, Hayden, 676; 8. Andrew Nelson, Wichita Independent, 668; 9. Shane Circle, Ottawa, 663; 10. Cameron Eastman, Cheney, 662; 11. Mario Murillo, Hesston, 660; 12. Dugan Trempe, Andale, 649; 13. Blake Dryden, Holcomb, 645; 14. Tucker Huband, Washington County, 639; 15. Austin Winter, Augusta, 637; 16. Reece Renyer, Hayden, 636; 17. Jett Cosby, Chanute, 633; 18. Julian Morrison, Buhler, 620; 19. Dagan Dannels, Mulvane, 610; 20. Jackson Sopinski, Bishop Miege, 605.