The boys and girls varsity bowling teams placed third in the tournament against Seaman and Junction City, revealing some of the main reasons why Manhattan boys and girls have yet to place first in a meet. Seaman won first with 2,646 points, behind them Junction City took second with 2,534 points and Manhattan varsity boys fell behind by 341 points from taking second, scoring 2,193 points.
“Their mental state right now is that they just don’t care, they’re not competitive, and that’s exactly what I’m trying to teach them right now is competitiveness,” head coach Robert Regan said. “You don’t have to win all the time but when you’re on a team your team depends on you to be competitive for three games, not just one game because you’re doing bad.”
This lack of competitiveness affected the Varsity boys team in all areas of their performance. Sophomore Avery Groover scored the Indian’s highest game of 234, good for the best MHS finish, but this was still behind Junction City and Seaman’s highest game by at least 20 points for the Varsity boys category. Manhattan’s highest series was 609 scored by junior Nathaniel Chaput, but this was still behind Junction City and Seaman’s highest series by at least 100 points.
“We’re going to go back to the basics of bowling, one step approach during practice, learn to feel the ball and feel the role of that ball,” Regan said. “It’s helping them, but when it gets tournament time, they go back to the same old ways, the more we practice this, the longer it will stick with them.”
The Varsity girls performance was also very highly affected. Sophomore Alex Newell scored Manhattan’s highest game with 226, but it wasn’t enough to beat out Junction City or Seaman as they both had a higher scoring game. The team’s highest series was 575 scored by sophomore Zoe Johnson, but it was still behind Junction City and Seaman’s highest series.
The Indians’ next game is Monday against Washburn Rural, Topeka High and Edgerton, at Shawnee Heights.