.jpg)
NORFOLK — The Hartington-Newcastle bowling team headed to Norfolk and the Boone Central Tournament and it appears that this growing program may have taken a few more steps in the right direction.
With eight other teams in the field, the HNS boys opened up with a 7-1 loss against York, fell to Fremont 6-2 and then drilled the hosts 6-2. Keep in mind, the first two programs represent much bigger schools.
“We were the sixth seed in the Bakers bracket and had to bowl Yor k in the first round,” Hartington-Newcastle head coach Nate Holan said. “We bowled really well in Bakers, but came up short in all three games and lost 3-0. Ben Kleinschmit, Barrett Bruning and Christian Fiscus gave us some nice games and helped keep us close. Alex Elks and Memphis Ulrich got better each game and did a nice job making adjustments and figuring out what they needed to do to be successful.”
Kleinschmit, for one, is looking at the start of the season wit h his head held high, saying the Wildcats have been exceeding expectations and they started off pretty high to begin with.
“We were all fighting; it was just not quite enough to take down (some top teams),” he said. “I believe that this is one of the better teams out of the three years I’ve been in high school and we really do have a chance. Barrett and I are both showing up and doing just fine. Christian is showing tremendous improvement from last year. Alex is transitioning to a different form, going two-handed, and he’s showing a lot more improvement throwing other than one-handed. Memphis is really improving and he might be one of the best bowlers or possibly the best bowler by the end of the year, in my opinion.”
He also mentioned that with this core — all but Ulrich are juni ors — having bowled since junior high, the sky could be the limit as they get more opportunities to make a mark.
“I guess all the hard work and everything that everyone’s putting in and our coaches, in my opinion, are some of the best coaches out there because they’re able to really just develop us into the best bo wlers we can possibly be,” Kleinschmit said. “By the end of the year, I believe that all of us have a chance not just for to qualify for State as a team, but I believe that all of us could have a chance to even qualify individually for the State tournament also.”
The HNS girls fell to York 7-1 and Fremont 8-0 before regroupin g for a 7-1 win over Boone Central.
They were the seventh seed in the Bakers bracket and lost 3-0 t o Humphrey Lindsay Holy Family, losing two of those by two pins, and had a chance to win all three games.
“Dary Myo and Faith Pinkelman were pretty consistent all day to help lead the way,” Holan said. “They are really falling into the leader roles on the team with their performances. Ell Haag, Ali Ford and Aaralynn Collier have worked hard and have gotten better every day to help giv e us a chance each time we bowl.”
Holan saw a lot of ups and downs throughout the day. “We had a tough draw as two of the teams we bowled were some of t he top teams in the state last year,” Holan said. “We were able to really work on some stuff and started being more consistent as the day went on.
“We know what we need to be better at and hopefully we were able to use this as an opportunity to see what it takes to be able to compete against the top teams.
“Once we get more consistent with doing things the same and pic king up our spares, we will be a really tough team to beat. I don’t think we are that far off; we are close.”
