March 29, 2024

Youthful group leads Clarke bowling

Youth is what Clarke bowling will be overcoming again, rostering no seniors on both the boys and girls squad for the 2020-21 season, but will return much of the same squads that saw success a year ago.

The Lady Indians were a strong team, making their way to the state tournament in Waterloo and taking home an eighth-place finish. Only one from last season’s team will not be returning, then-senior Landi Helgevold.

With Helgevold graduating, the remaining four girls are all juniors – Hannah Wisniewski, Ryleigh Luce, Jessinda Davenport and Jadie Bowlsby.

Wisniewski is the returning pin leader, tallying 3,188 total pins a year ago with a high game of 217 and a high score of 429. Bowlsby knocked down 2,555 total pins, while Davenport and Luce put 2,488 and 2,298 pins on the ground, respectively.

“Having the knowledge of what the pressure is going to look like, what to look forward to, what drive that they’re going to have to have to make it back there again,” Clarke head coach Dale Helgevold said is what the group took away from last year’s success.

Only losing one senior, he added he expects the group can be back in the same place, at the state tournament, after another year to mature, being able to guide the rest of the team.

On the boys end, the Indians will be held up by five juniors returning from last year.

Jayden Giza, Miguel Barrientos, Joey Bucy, Ely Crawford and Dale Showers all look to take the next step and equal their female counterparts in reaching the elusive state tournament.

The strongest link of the group, Giza, returns after tallying 3,307 total pins, a 418 high score and 235 high game a year ago. He led the Indians in each category as a sophomore.

Two seniors graduated from last year’s class – Alejandro Davis and Kaeden Hietkamp. Davis was the second-leading scorer for Clarke in his final season. Behind Giza, he was the only boy to knock down more than 2,000 pins. Davis finished with 2,302 total pins, a high score of 332 and a high game of 189.

“Right now, we’ve got four pretty strong boys,” Dale Helgevold said. “So, if we can get one or two more to step up just a little bit, then they should be pretty successful as well.”

The year is going to be different for teams throughout the state due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Dale Helgevold said Clarke will be wearing a mask at home meets and will follow any protocols other schools have in place. The Indians have also cut down on competing against as many teams, opting out of triangular meets and tournaments, focusing strictly on dual meets.

“We have a meet next Monday night, which is normally when Oskaloosa and Lenox travel here for the first meet of the year,” he said. “But, it’s just going to be Lenox and us because we want to cut down numbers. At this point, I think that’s the smart thing to do.”

Individual games will be different as well, not pairing up with opponents in the same. Dale Helgevold said he isn’t sure how this will affect his teams, because sometimes it helps seeing other groups have success.

For now, however, he isn’t taking the season for granted, being grateful for each day the season is still intact.

Clarke bowling opens the season at Osceola Alley Bowl Monday against Lenox. Start time will be 4 p.m.