Emporia wins 5-1A, Heights takes third

In finishing in the top three for a second-straight season, Wichita Heights' coach Jolie Plumlee is seeing the consistency she wants in her program.

"A couple of players pulled us through," Plumlee said. "The big thing was we were really focusing on spares these last couple of days. That's what really pulled us through is hitting our spares and staying positive. We believed that we could be up there."

Two Falcon bowlers finished in the top 10, including Korey Bice (fourth) and Nathan Sevier (eighth).

Bice bowled 200 plus each game, including a single-game best of 248.

Sevier, who's just a freshman, tallied 695 pins and a morning best of 255.

"It seems like a different kid bowls well at every meet," Plumlee said. "Nate, a freshman, he came through. We'll have him for several more years and five of those kids are coming back next year. Hopefully, we'll be just as strong if not stronger come next year."

Emporia wins state, Schuler takes first individually

Braden Schuler can't help but smile.

After finishing 61st last season, the Emporia senior soared to first place and took home an individual state championship.

It began with perfection.

"Starting off with the 300 was pretty insane," Schuler said. "For being my first, I kept my composure pretty well. This year, I beat my (state) score from last year in two games, so all of our team was joking about that. To finish out strong is pretty awesome."

Schuler's single-game best at state in 2015 came in at 207, but today, he combined a 267-pin second game with his opening perfect score.

The Spartans were not done, however, as they jumped from 12th as a team last winter and took home a state championship.

"Coming into this we were all telling each other we can do this," Schuler said. "We haven't been bowling our best all year, but we have a good group and we can do it. We pulled it out and it feels amazing."