March 5, 2018 at 12:45 p.m.
Bloomquist knew state bowling title 'was something I could accomplish'
Bloomquist knew state bowling title 'was something I could accomplish'
Bloomquist became the first Rhinelander bowler to win the state high school crown, defeating Sun Prairie's Austin Est 193-172 Sunday morning in the championship match at Dale's Weston Lanes.
"I knew I wanted to do it," Bloomquist said afterward. "I knew it was something I could accomplish and to accomplish it, it was a good time."
Bloomquist bowled well from the onset. A 665 series on Friday night put him second place in the standings following the opening round which whittled the 94-bowler field down to 24 semifinalists. He followed that up with a 674 series Saturday night which left him as the top qualifier among the five bowlers who made Sunday morning's finals.
He faced Est, the third seed, who beat Kenosha Tremper's Justin Smith 238-212 and Middleton's Zach Thomas 192-190 to reach the finals.
An early open for Est in the second frame gave Bloomquist a lead he would never relinquish. Bloomquist had a nine-pin lead entering the 10th frame and, as the first to bowl, had a chance to close out the match with a pair of strikes plus any sort of count with his third ball. Bloomquist made the first but missed outside on the second, leaving a three-pin spare which he converted for a 192.
That opened the door for Est, who needed to strike out in the 10th for a 193, but when Est left the 10 pin standing on his first ball in the 10th, Bloomquist claimed the state title.
"I was a little nervous, but I knew he had to throw all three to beat me," Bloomquist said. "Any 9-count anywhere through there I win. That first ball he threw looked a little flat and it came in flush, but it didn't carry the 10 pin. It was just a sigh of relief once I saw that 10 pin standing there. Pretty much (I thought), 'I just won the state tournament.' It was a pretty exciting moment there."
Bloomquist opened with a double, striking the first two frames of the championship match, and appeared to be in the driver's seat after Est failed to convert a 5-8-10 spare in the second. But Bloomquist misfired in the third, leaving a 4-6-7 split that he could not convert, keeping his lead at 11 at the time. He bounced back with a strike in the fourth and kept Est at bay.
"When you come back and throw a strike after an open, it feels really good. You just try to build from that," Bloomquist said.
Bloomquist appeared to have some difficulty finding the proper line on the left of the two lanes used in the championship match. His only strike on that lane came in the first and, following the split in the third, he converted on a 5-9 spare in the fifth and single-pin spares in the seventh and ninth.
"The left lane just seemed to give him a tad more trouble than the right lane," Bourcier said, noting that spare shooting proved to be the key to Bloomquist's championship. "Spares win. Strikes are great, but you need those spares. That was the key. He wasn't striking, but he was sparing. That put pressure on the opponent."
"There were frames in there where I just got a little fast with my feet and tugged it a little bit through my backswing," Bloomquist added. "It was just something I had to work through and as long as I made my spares, it ended up OK for me."
Est didn't have much trouble with the left lane, recording strikes there in frames 4, 6 and 8, but couldn't find the line on the right lane, making spares in frames 3, 5, 7 and 9. That allowed Bloomquist to maintain a small lead.
"I got a little lead in the beginning and that made me feel pretty good. I knew I had to keep one mark ahead of him the whole game," Bloomquist said. "That's what I did. I didn't have to worry too much about what he was doing, I just had to throw good shots myself."
Bloomquist was locked in pretty much from the time he stepped on the property at Dale's Weston Lanes. Using a urethane ball he borrowed from Bourcier and a line different than the majority of the bowlers, Bloomquist started striking and never seemed to let up.
"The shot was tough," Bourcier said. "All these kids were trying to play inside and swing the ball a little bit more. Some could do it, but it wasn't always consistent. Darin moved right. We played the gutter and I had some coaches coming to me, shaking their heads and saying, 'He's going to win. He's got the line. He's got the best look out of everyone.'"
Bloomquist shot games of 233, 195 and 237 on Friday to sit six pins behind Thomas entering the semifinals.
"I tried to get into a rhythm, got smooth and was trying to throw quality shots. I set my goal at 660, averaging 220. I just beat that there," Bloomquist said of his Friday rounds. "Saturday I missed a couple of easy spares by shot 246 and 226 off the bat, was sitting good for game three."
Bloomquist marked in all 10 frames in the final game of the semifinals, but shot only 202. Regardless, it was enough to beat Thomas by three pins for the top qualifying spot and earn a free pass into the championship match, which Bloomquist said played to his advantage.
"You have more time to relax," he said. "You don't have to work your way through the bracket. I knew the line was going to be there because I was playing outside of everybody (else's line). I knew I had a nice shot at winning."
It all came together this weekend for the senior, who placed 32nd at state as a sophomore and missed qualifying for state as a junior following a rough final day in district play.
"It was long way coming through here," said Bloomquist, admitting the full realization of what he had accomplished had not hit him when he spoke to the River News less than a hour after capturing the state title. "I knew what I had to do showing up today, try to throw 12 quality shots. It didn't matter if I won by one pin or 100 pins. I probably threw about half as good of shots as what I needed to throw but, in the end, I came out on top."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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