March 4, 2020 at 3:12 p.m.
Rhinelander bowlers prepping for state tournament
Rhinelander bowlers prepping for state tournament
The Hodags' boys squad made the cut as a team and Rhinelander also had three individuals - Calvin Schneider, Katrina Blasius and Mackenzie Bourcier - qualify for the state meet.
It's much different than the last couple of years for the Hodags, who have not been in the team portion of the state meet since 2016. The team did not have any individual state qualifiers in 2017 and only one state qualifier each of the last two years. This year, the team has a much larger contingent heading to Dale's Weston Lanes.
"A lot of our kids like to bowl there," coach Mike Bourcier said. "We kind of know how they lanes play there. Everyone feels pretty confident going into this coming state meet."
There are two components to the state meet. The first is the team competition, which the Rhinelander/Three Lakes boys' squad qualified for by finishing third among Division 2 boys/co-ed teams in WiHSBC's District 9. The team will bowl 15 baker games - with five players alternating frames bowled - during Friday night's preliminary round. The team will then need to wait for the results of Saturday morning's waves of preliminary play to see if it ranks as one of the top five teams that advances to Saturday night's semifinal round.
"This is total pinfall so we need to make all of our spares and we do need to try to throw strikes. I'm going to put the best lineup that I can (out there)," coach Bourcier explained. "We move every game. The line's going to change a little bit. The biggest goal is just to try to stay clean, have as many clean games as possible. A decent clean game should be at least 180. What's it going to take to make the top five, to make the first cut? I'm not 100% sure, but I know you're going to have to average at least 180. That's probably is going to be the minimum. My thoughts are you're going to probably have to average closer to 190, 195 - which we're very capable of doing."
Schneider is on the boys' squad alone with Kody Litzen, Cody Bednarz, Jeremiah Braun and Eric Jones. Jacob Wagler is also on the team, but Bourcier said he is not expected to compete after sustaining an injury following the team's final round of conference play.
Individually, Schneider, Blasius and Mackenzie Bourcier will be in the singles portion of the tournament. Each will bowl three regulation games on Friday and if their score is among the top 25% of the field (top 25 boys and 15 girls), they will return Saturday night to bowl three more games in the semifinals. If their cumulative score between Friday and Saturday's games is among the top five overall, they will advance to Sunday morning's stepladder finals.
Here are five storylines for the team heading into this weekend's state tournament.
Past experience
The only bowler on the team with previous experience at the state tournament is Mackenzie Bourcier, who made the initial cut and finished 14th overall in the girls' field last year.
"Goals are to at least make it as far as I did last year, try to make it further," she said. "But I also know everyone I'm going with has also upped their game, just like me. We're all going to try our hardest and try to have a good day and not an off day."
While Bourcier said she hasn't drawn too much on last year's experience at state, Blasius said she definitely noticed a change in her teammate following the event.
"She gained confidence," Blasius said. "She finally had it in her that she could do it. She could pick up the spares and she could throw a good game. She had a lot more confidence."
Though everyone else is making their first state tournament experience, all of the bowlers have previous big meet experience.
With the exception of Jones, everyone on this year's team competed previous in the WiHSBC middle school state meet. Schneider, Blasius, Mackenzie Bourcier and Litzen were part of the team that took second that competition back in 2016.
"That's excitement there, but high school state is even a little bit more because it's more of a production, more of a show," coach Bourcier said. "It will be new for them, so keeping them in the moment, keeping there, keeping them focused an not worrying about everything else. Once the lights come on, we start bowling."
The bowlers have also competed in several prominent junior tournaments around the state and the region, including the USBC Junior Gold Championship, which Litzen described as a humbling experience when he competed in the event a year ago.
"That was definitely a mood changer. I came in way too confident and I struggled throughout the whole week," he said. "I changed a lot and now I feel confident again, but I'm not going to be as cocky as I was either."
Double duty
Schneider, a senior, will have an extremely busy Friday at the state meet as he competes in both the individual and team portions of the tournament.
His individual competition starts at 4:30 p.m. while the team event begins at 7 p.m. By bowling a three-game series in individual competition and two frames each in a 15-game series in the team event, Schneider will have bowled 60 frames - or the equivalent of six full games - by the time the night ends.
"Overall, I think Calvin will be fine, physically. I think, mentally it will be a long day when you're there from 3 o'clock until we'll probably be bowling at 10 o'clock at night," coach Bourcier said. "It just makes for a long day. You're on your feet, you're going. We've got to keep him hydrated and make sure he gets some nutrients between games to keep going."
Beat the best
Blasius, in her first state singles appearance, is not bashful about her goals. She has last year's state champion, Brystal Beyer of Manawa, squarely in her sights.
The two are WiHSBC rivals in District 9. Blasius qualified for the individual state meet by finishing third in the district with a 80.2% fill rate. Beyer was second at 82.9%.
"I had her for a while and then I didn't," said Blasius, who led the District 9 standings for stretch this season. "All of my motivation is going to beat her. That's all I care about going into state. Seriously, that's all I care about."
House money
The Hodag boys' team comes in with the attitude that it has nothing to lose this weekend given that, at the start of February, qualifying for the state meet seemed all but impossible.
The Hodags had to win their final four conference matches, and get some help from teams ahead of them in the standings, just to vault into the top three and earn the final District 9 berth in Division 2. The team did just that, including a victory over previously unbeaten Amherst on the conference final day, to punch its state ticket.
"Beating an undefeated team was a really big confidence booster," Litzen said. "We came in with little to no confidence because we had barely a chance to make state and we did it."
Striking fear
As far as strategy in both the team and individual competitions go, coach Bourcier said the best defense is a good offense. In other words, the better you bowl, the more pressure it puts on the competition.
"You can control what others do by throwing lots of strikes," he said. "If you're bowling well, there are enough who look around. If someone's throwing a lot of strikes a couple lanes over, it's hard to not notice it. That can affect how you bowl because you get a little tense and everything. You've got to be the one that's throwing the strikes and scoring well to put the pressure on the other people."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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