WICHITA – The race for the Class 4-1A girls bowling state championship wasn’t nearly as close as Ottawa coach Jason Circle believed it to be after the completion of the American Tenpins portion of Friday’s tournament.
 
But whether the margin over Buhler was one pin, which Circle thought it was, or the eight pins it actually was, mattered little. Going into the four Baker games, it was every bit as tight as Circle expected it to be going into the state meet at Bowlero Northrock in Wichita.
 
“Coming into Baker it was a one (eight) point difference between us and Buhler with Andale hot on our tails,” Circle said. “And you know, at that point, it’s anyone’s game.”
 
But buoyed by a triple-dose of big-time momentum, Ottawa turned the tightest of races into a runaway victory. The Cyclones gained some separation early in the Baker series and then delivered a hammer of a final game to bring home the program’s first-ever state championship.
 
Thanks to a 753 Baker series – 70 higher than any of its challengers – Ottawa finished with a 2,900 total to win by a comfortable 150 pins over runner-up Buhler, which finished at 2,750.
 
“It came down to the last few games of Baker and everybody stepped up, everybody converted when they had to,” Circle said. “Their energy was high and they just looked at each other and our seniors on the team said, ‘This is our last time. Let’s go out together and be champions.’”
 

 
The Cyclones’ energy was already at an elevated level well before the first ball was thrown in the girls’ afternoon session.
 
For starters, there was Ottawa’s performance in last week’s regional meet where the Cyclones got a 1-2-3 individual finish from senior Kathy Gillett and junior twin sisters Alison and Abigail Huffman to win the regional by more than 400 pins and firmly establish them as the favorites with their 2,812 total tops among the four regional champions.
 
“After regionals, I knew we had it in us,” Gillett said. “It was honestly the most momentum you could get. You can’t really get much better or more confidence going in.”
 
Or can you?
 
If the regional performance wasn’t momentum enough, the Cyclones got another shot of adrenaline on Friday at Northrock as they spent the morning watching and cheering on Ottawa’s boys team as it set a Class 4-1A state meet record in winning its first-ever state title.
 
Witnessing that accomplishment only fueled the Cyclones’ desire to follow suit with a title of their own.
 
“It was great and that’s what everybody said as soon as the boys finished, ‘You guys got it next,’” Gillett said. “And we said, ‘Yeah we do.’ Especially with Baker, seeing how the boys picked each other up and their voices were gone and they were so hype, we wanted the same thing. So we made it happen.”
 
Abigail Huffman agreed.
 
“It just gave us something to look forward to,” she said. “Watching them was just so much fun because they were a lot more energetic than we were.”
 

 
Even in getting off to a strong start with Gillett and Huffman leading a 746 opening series with games of 217 and 215, respectively, the Cyclones were in catch-up mode as Buhler jumped out to an early 41-pin lead with a 787 series paced by a 217 game from Cheyann Geesling, who went on to capture the individual state title.
 
Buhler then stretched the lead to 68 pins with a 671-644 advantage over the Cyclones in the second game of tenpins.
 
But Ottawa got another boost of momentum in the third tenpins game. While Buhler put up a solid 681 series, the Cyclones began finding their groove and fed off each other in a big way. Four Cyclones posted games of 173 or better and they finished with a 757 series to leapfrog the Crusaders into first place going into Baker.
 
“It was tremendous,” Circle said. “I had a couple girls that were struggling to battle the oil pattern and the oil finally pushed down and they were able to hit their line where they’re most comfortable and it all came together for them.”
 

 
Both Huffman sisters finished in the 170s in that third tenpins game while senior Taylor Horne had her best game of the day by 38 pins with a 182. Leading the charge was Gillett, who was also locked in a battle for the individual state title.
 
Seventh at state in her first year with the program as a sophomore and then runner-up a year ago to Chanute’s Lovie Cosby for the title, Gillett was in second place in the individual standings after her 217 first game, trailing 2023 state champion Bella Cunningham by just nine pins.
 
But a 165 second game in which she couldn’t piece together strikes dropped Gillett to sixth, 59 pins behind Buhler’s Geesling, who had a 224 second game and was at 441. Geesling left the door open slightly with a 188 final game to finish at 629 and after a slow start to her final game, Gillett got hot and got back in the race.
 
She strung together four straight strikes and went into her final frame with a chance. Strike out and she would tie with Geesling for the top spot, with a 247 game giving her the tiebreaker and title. After opening the 10th with a strike, Gillett left two pins on her next ball, ending her title chances.
 
She finished with a 223 and settled for a fourth-place finish with a 605 series.
 
“I wanted it,” Gillett said of the title. “My second game is what killed it for me. I finally figured it out my third game.”
 

 
While she fell short of the individual title, getting things figured out played big in the Baker setting. Ottawa had struggled in those games at regionals, but not Friday.
 
Holding that slim eight-pin margin going in, the Cyclones started with a 169 that was good enough to stretch the lead to 41 pins when Buhler opened with just a 136. The Crusaders got hot in their second game, turning in a 182 that tightened things right back up after Ottawa posted a 153.
 
But from there, it was all Ottawa. The Cyclones jumped back up to a 199 second game that was 75 pins better than Buhler’s 124 and they put an exclamation on the title with a 232 final Baker game.
 
“In Baker, it was just clicking,” Gillett said. “We had momentum going and everybody was hype, especially those last two games. I just wanted it even more because I wanted that team title. I knew we were there and that we could get it.”
 
Gillett admitted that before the season started, a state title wasn’t something she envisioned the Cyclones challenging for. A year ago, Ottawa finished fifth as a team, more than 200 pins behind champion Andale and nearly 100 pins away from fourth.
 
Five of the six members of that team did return and the improvements by the team were across the board. While Gillett raised her average by five to a 186, Alison Huffman boosted her average by 34 pins to a 174 and Abigail Huffman improved by 24 to a 167. Horne also took a lead of 22 pins and sophomore Lora Kuntz improved by 35.
 
“We all improved a lot on different things,” Abigail said. “We’ve been getting higher scores, higher series and it’s been a lot better than it had been. It helped a lot knowing that we’ve picked up our spares and strikes.”
 

 
A little twin rivalry boosted the Huffmans’ significant improvement that saw both of them earn state medals. Abigail finished with a 549 series to place eighth while Alison posted a 489 series and placed 16th.
 
“A lot of people ask who’s better,” Alison said. “It just depends on the day and who’s doing good and who’s not. We really just try to help each other do the best we can. Me personally, I don’t think about trying to beat her. I just think about wanting us both to do well. We’ve improved so much on being consistent and the team improved on just our energy and keeping each other up.”
 

 
That improvement played out throughout the year as Ottawa spent the season breaking and re-breaking its team records for scoring, starting the year with a 2,092 tenpins series and upping that mark to a 2,186 in late January and then a 2,355 in mid-February.
 
Their 2,900 final total at state ranks as the fifth-best in 4-1A state meet history.
 
“Coming into the season I didn’t really know we had it in us,” Gillett said. “I knew there was some skill on the team but I saw the progression we made and we started breaking school records. My hope grew and grew and after regionals, I knew we could do it.”
 
Already thrilled with taking one team championship back to Ottawa, Circle and his Cyclones will bring home two. They’re the first program to sweep the team championships at state since Seaman swept the 5A titles in 2022 and only the fourth team to do it overall with Campus (2019) and Bishop Carroll (2009) also accomplishing it.
 

 
What makes the Cyclones’ accomplishment even more impressive is they only get two official practice days a week at their home venue, Fusion Lanes, though the facility offers discounted rates on two other days where the team members can get in additional work.
 
“This is phenomenal, especially for a program that’s only six years old,” Circle said. “Fusion Alley does an amazing job of supporting us and our bowlers so they can put in the work to get better. And our athletes take advantage of that.
 
“With the boys sitting behind them and bringing and returning all the energy the girls gave them this morning, it’s a blessing to be able to coach the boys and girls together and have a true team environment.”
 

 
Buhler did just enough in the Baker format to hold off a hard charge by defending champion Andale. The Indians began Baker 110 pins behind the Crusaders but opened Baker play with a 214 game to whack 78 pins off that deficit. They never recaptured that groove, however, and wound up finishing third with a 2,720 total, 30 behind Buhler’s 2,750 total.
 

In addition to Geesling's individual title, Buhler got an 11th from Aubrey Ewing (508) and 13th from Cora Nuttman (501). Andale was led by a sixth from Calee Walters (55) and 17th from Corin Walters (488).
 

 
CLASS 4-1A GIRLS TEAM SCORES
 
1 Ottawa 2,900; 2. Buhler 2,750; 3. Andale 2,720; 4. Mulvane 2,526; 5. Chanute 2,478; 6. Wichita Collegiate 2,441; 7. Hayden 2,260; 8. McPherson 1,988.