March 17, 2021 at 10:32 a.m.
Rhinelander club bowlers fare well at all-star event
Rhinelander club bowlers fare well at all-star event
Hodag bowlers Cody Bednarz, Mackenzie Bourcier, Kody Litzen and Katrina McCarthy qualified for the event by finishing in the top five in District 9 in season-long fill percentage. The district competed against the 13 other districts in the WiHSBC in a hybrid format that included individual games and baker team games.
Bednarz and Litzen were on a District 9 boys' squad that finished as the top qualifier before it fell in the championship match to District 3A representing the greater Racine/Kenosha area. The District 9 girls rallied from ninth following the singles portion of qualifying to finish fourth overall, missing the semifinals by only 62 pins.
"We're a strong district," said Rhinelander coach Mike Bourcier, who skippered the D9 girls' squad on Saturday. "We compete well. We've got a lot of schools. We've got a lot of talent. Even though we have some smaller schools, we've got a lot of talent in our district."
Bourcier's assistant coach, Kevin Litzen, helped coach the D9 boys' team along with Merrill's Scott Smith. The boys were solid in the singles portion of qualifying, sitting in fourth place at 3,048 pins after all five members of the team bowled three individual games. Merrill's Dylan Smith led District 9 and was third in the individual portion of the tournament, with a 693 series. Bednarz shot 594 and Litzen shot 587.
District 9 had moved from fourth place to the lead following the first five of 10 baker games, averaging 220.4 pins over those five games with a high score of 236 in the opener. The team averaged 216.8 over the second set of five games, had the top overall baker series at 2,186 pins and edged District 1 by nine pins for the top overall seed.
"The boys did well. They started out a little slow their first game (of singles), but they made some adjustments and went lights out the next two," coach Bourcier said. "The boys just got locked and loaded and they went to town. They're averaging 220 almost a game, which is good."
District 3A, which was the third seed in qualifying, defeated District 1 460-389 in a two-game baker series in the semifinals, and then defeated District 9 395-322 in the finals. District 9 lost the first game 224-162, a hole it could not recover from in the second game. Bourcier chalked it up to a young District 9 squad that included a freshman, two sophomores, a junior and only one senior.
"The lanes really transitioned a bunch and the younger kids, you could tell, they kept their composure but I think a little of the pressure got to them," he said. It looked like they got a little tense - a little squeezing, a little grabby with the ball instead of just letting the ball go. That slowed the ball down which created more over-reaction.
"That was still a great showing for a younger group of kids. It shows are talent that's coming up on the boys' side. You'll see District 9 winning some titles and being up there in the next few years. There's some good, young talent coming up."
The District 9 girls got off to a slower start in singles, That was especially true for Mackenzie Bourcier and McCarthy, the two lefties on the squad. Bourcier shot 438 and McCarthy shot 488 as District 9 was ninth following the singles round of qualifying at 2,708 pins.
"I don't like using the lefty-righty (excuse), but it does play a difference," coach Bourcier said. "They missed too many easy spares. Katrina was pulling the ball a lot and when she did hit the pocket, she didn't carry. My daughter (Mackenzie), the last game she did hit the pocket fairly well for a 130-something game. She had five splits. Every time she hit the pocket, we're looking like, 'really?' She's leaving big splits, just how her ball was finishing on that lane."
Fortunes changed for District 9 when it got to the team portion of qualifying. The team averaged 204.8 pins over the first five games, with a high of 225 in Game 2, to vault into sixth in the standings. They followed up with a 206.4 average over the final five games. Overall, the 2,056 score in the team portion of the event was second in the field, but it left the team 62 pins short of reaching the semifinals.
"They really shined there. They came out as a team. They had the fire. They had the yelling, the cheering and everything," coach Bourcier said. "On the day, we averaged a little over 205 for those 10 games. We moved up to fourth, 62 pins out of third. That's just how well the girls bowled, other than a few simple missed spares. We missed at least a dozen of them in the team event. In that 173 game (Game 8) we had four single-pin misses. You pick them up, or carry some of them, we're sitting in third, if not second."
For McCarthy and Mackenzie Bourcier, the event marked the final official tournament of their high school careers. The two combined for five WiHSBC state tournament appearances. McCarthy will continue her bowling career at Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids, Iowa while Bourcier will pursue opportunities outside of bowling in college.
"They finished out their high school career on a high note, bowling well in the team event," coach Bourcier said. "A few little tears were shed there, being the last one, but not as much as it was when it was Katrina's last shots here in Rhinelander for our District 9 (play). She got a little more emotional there. Still it was emotional and good for the two girls to go out on that end the way they did."
Meanwhile, for Litzen and Bednarz, coach Bourcier said he's hopeful that the experience will help push the two into next season when they will be the anchors of the Hodag team.
"Next year, they'll be back again. They'll know what to expect," he said. "Kody Litzen, he's already talking next year, things he's got to work on and do. Cody Bednarz, I think when he started the year out, it was like OK. Not a whole lot fazes him. Cody's kind of Cody, he just goes out there. But, as the year went this year and then state hit and the all-stars, you could tell he started getting a little more pumped up. He's talking more bowling. I look for good things out of him also."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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