On Saturday, November 21, the Millard West Unified Bowling team competed in the North Bend Invitational. There were seven teams in total that competed in this invitational. Millard West, Wahoo and North Bend Central had two teams while Grand Island had a single team. This was  the Wildcats third invitational of the year with hopes of placing top three in the competition. 

The two teams in the tournament from Millard West, Team A and Team B, were not set by skill; they were put together randomly. Players on Team A were sophomore Jillian Weland, sophomore Emily Ciesieski, junior Connor Jeffery, junior Will Stoneburner and sophomore Jack Carroll, Team B consisted of senior Jake Parkman, junior Ivan Smith and junior Bryan Stuckenschmidt.

“Over the season we’ve done good,”Stuckenschmidt said. “we’ve done a lot of different things than usual but I think we have done good adjusting for the season.”

The tournament works by each team bowling six games to determine their seed in a single elimination tournament. In the six games for the A team, they bowled scores of 72, 117, 106, 83, 111, 71 and for the B team they bowled scores of 94, 93, 129, 111, 122 and 113.

 The two teams were placed as the third and sixth seed and ended up playing each other in the first round. Team B ended up beating Team A, 2-0, scoring 150 and 143 points in those two games. The Millard West B team took on North Bend Central’s A team in the second round. They split the first two games but ended up losing the third game by the score of 198 to 121.

When it was all over, North Bend Central ended up on top beating Grand Island in the finals 2-1, with the Cats B team placing third in the tournament.

“We did good,” Stuckenschmidt said. “We need to convert on more spares and just adjust to pushing the ball harder.”

Team A ended up finishing in sixth place in the North Bend invite. Overall, the team was satisfied with their performance, but they believe with practice they can improve for their next tournament.

“The team is constantly improving and growing more consistent,” coach Jan Lehms said. “I know we can get top scores because we do sporadically, and it is getting more common.”

The Wildcats put in their best effort in this tournament and keep improving throughout the season. But there are always things that each team can improve on. For the Millard West A team, it is just about being more consistent and making sure they are getting six or more points each frame. For the B team, it’s about picking up extra spares and pins every time they get the chance, so they can perform to the best of their ability.

The Wildcats next tournament is the state tournament on Monday, December 7. They have high hopes for the tournament and that their hard work throughout the season will pay off.