GCHS boys garner fifth straight crown
Sometimes in athletics, no matter at what level it is, living up to the hype before a season begins can be a road beset by potholes.
When the 2024 high school bowling season began the first week of January for Garden City High School and the other four Western Athletic Conference schools, the Buffaloes’ boys were heavily favored to capture their fifth straight title.
Despite a couple of blips on the scoresheet over the eight league matches, the Buffaloes did just that by capturing 98 of a possible 104 points to win going away over Dodge City, Great Bend, Liberal and Hays.
“The conference schedule is good for us because we get to bowl in different establishments and they all have different lane conditions,” said GCHS coach Kip Nichols, who earned another WAC Coach of the Year honor. “We had a lot of experience back from last year (third in Class 6A), but the biggest thing you have to do is to stay focused and not think too far ahead.”
In addition to the eight dual matches during the two-month season, the Buffs travel to Wichita for two big tournaments – the season-opening Bishop Carroll Invitational and then the Great Plains Invitational.
“Those tournaments give us a chance to see all the other main teams across the state,” Nichols said. “Again, lane conditions in Wichita are likely to be very different from the conditions we see at our WAC matches.”
Nichols has been the only head coach for the bowling program, which began in 2007. Since then, his boys have captured eight WAC titles, Great Bend has six, Liberal three and Dodge City one.
“We’ve always had very good competition within the WAC,” Nichols said. “Liberal had some great teams in the early years; Dodge City has had a couple of good ones and Great Bend always has good teams.”
This season’s team has just one senior on the six-player varsity roster in Kaden Strasser and he won the WAC Bowler of the Year award for the highest average during the eight matches, coming in at 223.66 while junior teammate KJ Burns was next at 221.08.
Other Buffs’ teammates garnered three of the remaining four spots on the all-WAC first team with Karsten Nichols third (209.58), Bo Roth fourth (206.37), Liberal’s Lexton Batie fifth (205.33) and GCHS junior Athen Villarreal sixth at 204.76.
Add in another junior in Ethan McMillan (2nd team), and the Buffs have five juniors on the varsity lineup.
“We’ve been fortunate to have some terrific bowlers through the years,” Nichols said. “I think we are fortunate to have two bowling centers who support youth bowling in town, and they have quality programs and do a great job of teaching the kids at an early age. It really allows us to be competitive.”
Nichols said one of the strengths of this year’s team has been its overall depth. In one match, all six bowlers were over a 600 series for the three games of American 10-Pin format, and all came within 10 pins of each other from low to high.
“Again, credit our bowling centers for teaching the fundamentals and getting the kids the right equipment to provide them the tools to bowl well,” Nichols said. “One thing I’ve tried to do is have a score predictability for the bowlers that allows us to see what maximum scores could be and what the team needs from each bowler.”
Nichols said he focuses on the overall team aspect and stresses to his bowlers that all have a role to play in the success of the team.
“It’s important that everyone on the six-person team contributes,” said Nichols. “You can’t always rely on one or two bowlers to carry you. In our formats, we need everyone contributing.”
In addition to the American 10-Pin (3-games) format, high schools now utilize the Baker format with four games being rolled. In this format, a bowler never throws two consecutive frames and in most cases, a bowler throws Frame 1, then 2-7, 3-8, 4-9, 5-10 and 6 (single frame).
“I used to be data driven for this format, but I’ve changed my philosophy and we’ve stuck pretty much with the same lineup all season,” Nichols said. “I talked with a person who knows this format better than most and he changed my mind on how to set the lineup. We’re better than we used to be, but we still sometimes just don’t get a good game in.”
Nichols said this year’s team has been unselfish and the chemistry has been consistently good all season.
“They do a lot of other things together, so it’s good to see how well they are working together during the competition,” Nichols said.
KADEN STRASSER, GARDEN CITY, SENIOR
WAC BOYS’ BOWLER OF THE YEAR
When the 2024 bowling season got under way in early January, Garden City High School senior Kaden Strasser set some lofty goals for himself and his team.
One goal was to contend for the Western Athletic Conference Bowler of the Year Award while the team goals included repeating as WAC champions and then looking for a potential high finish at the Class 6A state tournament.
When all eight matches, and 24 games had been tabulated, Strasser was on top of the average list with a 223.66 average. His teammate, KJ Burns who also was the state 6A runner-up the last two years, was right on his heels at 221.08. Three other of his teammates also finished among the top six averages for the season.
Winning the Bowler of the Year was a bonus accomplishment since Strasser is the lone senior in the Buffs’ varsity lineup.
“I think everything that happened this season is a result of all the hard work I put in during the off-season,” Strasser said. “That’s what made me better.”
Like any athlete in other sports, Strasser wanted to be more consistent in his bowling and focused on that in the off-season.
“I was at a pro camp and one of the tips I got was that I didn’t need to throw the ball so hard,” Strasser said. “The important thing is for the ball to come into the pocket at the right angle and you’re going to get a lot of strikes. Still, I worked a lot on my spares because that is whether you can finish with a good game with strikes or not.”
Strasser uses a couple of different bowling balls (weight, how the ball is drilled) depending upon lane conditions.
“One thing that helps me is that we have two different bowling centers and the lane conditions are not the same,” Strasser said. “So that really helps to have different shots to get in at practice.”
Strasser said being the lone senior on this year’s team has offered him an opportunity to lead in different ways.
“Everyone on our team is an excellent bowler,” Strasser said. “My job is to keep everyone positive and helping others. I tell them all the time that we can’t just sit here and beat ourselves. We have to be focused all the time.”
Strasser said he was not specifically planning on bowling at the collegiate level but said he would be attending Kansas State University to major in computer science and engineering.
“I can compete with the professionals and an amateur, and don’t have to worry about a college coach,” Strasser said. “I’d like to get into coding of some kind, developing software programs or designing games.”
Strasser said his favorite senior memory during the regular season came when the Buffs defeated Derby in match play to capture the Great Plains Invitational title.
“Sweeping them was the best,” Strasser said.
2024 WAC Boys Bowling Standings
| TEAM | POINTS | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Garden City | 98 |
| 2 | Dodge City | 71 |
| 3 | Great Bend | 40 |
| 4 | Hays | 27 |
| 5 | Liberal | 24 |
First Team All-WAC
| NAME | SCHOOL | AVERAGE |
|---|---|---|
| Kaden Strasser | Garden City | 223.66 |
| KJ Burns | Garden City | 221.08 |
| Karsten Nichols | Garden City | 209.58 |
| Bo Roth | Garden City | 206.37 |
| Lexton Batie | Liberal | 205.33 |
| Athen Villarreal | Garden City | 204.76 |
Boys Coach of the Year — Kip Nichols, Garden City
Second Team All-WAC
| NAME | SCHOOL | AVERAGE |
|---|---|---|
| Ethan McMillan | Garden City | 194.95 |
| Josiah Ridgeway | Dodge City | 189.50 |
| Kaden Webb | Dodge City | 184.29 |
| Ethan Pogue | Dodge City | 183.33 |
| Daegan Miller | Great Bend | 174.95 |
| Brantley Vsetecka | Great Bend | 173.24 |
