Seaman boys and girls bowling win 5A state titles: 'We're still kind of on cloud nine'

The Seaman girls and boys bowling teams swept the 5A State Tournament Friday at Northrock Lanes in Wichita.

Seaman's bowling program, which has been to the state tournament in all five of its years under head coach Bob Benoit, won this year's titles after the boys won the state championship in 2019 and the girls that year finished second.

Friday's titles were the third in program history for the boys and the second for the girls.

The Baker boys

The Seaman boys used a comeback in the Baker Series to come away with Friday's championship, its second state title under Benoit.

Seaman (3,483) beat out Goddard Eisenhower (3,472) and Kapaun Mt. Carmel (3,462) for the win.

"I don't know how to really react," senior Jack Easum said right after the winners were announced. "We didn't think it was gonna happen but once we heard the names, I don't know, we're still kind of on cloud nine."

Easum (634) and juniors Zander White (643) and Ethan Burns (668) led the team in the 10-pin series, with all of them finishing in the top 20 for individual overall scores.

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Burns finished 10th overall, White 17th and Easum 19th.

"(Ethan) did really really good today," said Benoit. "He got a little nervous at the beginning during qualifying. We just had to get him under control, calm him down and have him do what Ethan does.

"Once we got him back in the zone, the rhythm and tempo part of his game, the kid was phenomenal," Benoit said.

Entering the Baker games, Seaman had a score of 2,581 behind Kapaun Mt. Carmel (2,679) and Goddard Eisenhower (2,584).

"We started out the season rough as a Baker team," said Easum. "Once we started practicing, it was more just getting team chemistry together and we started rolling on Baker."

There was also a pep talk from Benoit to get the team refocused.

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"Bob really fired us up before the Baker games started," said Burns. "He got us going right when we needed to."

Easum said he started to feel the momentum shift in the third game when Seaman's bowlers were hitting strikes and spares to catch up to Goddard Eisenhower.

They would score 213, 208, 225 and 256 for a total of 902 to beat out Goddard Eisenhower's 888.

"Zander didn’t miss a ball in Baker," said Benoit. "For us to shoot all 200s and 250 in the last game to overtake the other schools was phenomenal."

Benoit said he'll remember how the members of this group matured and trusted him as a coach, saying he was grateful for their willingness to listen.

The winning teams were announced from last to first, and when Goddard Eisenhower was named as the second-place team, the celebrations for Seaman began.

"As a team, it was so fun to see everyone smiling," said Easum. "Knowing after this, it’ll be one of our top five memories as a team. Whenever we bowl (in) leagues together, we’ll remember this."

Burns said team members knew it was very tight but didn't know they won until the last second.

"We were going crazy, we couldn’t believe we came back," he said. "Down around 100 going into Baker, the fact we came back...my freshman and sophomore year made me hungrier to get (a state title) before I graduated. To get one is kind of like a bucket list thing."

Benoit said he wasn't sure a state title was in the cards for this year's group at the start of the season, with inconsistencies in getting spares and team members getting down on themselves when they had a bad series.

"We worked really really hard on (those things) and I told them, 'Let's just go out and have fun today,'" said Benoit. "'Do what you guys do and if it's meant for us to win, we’ll win.' That's how we approached today."

Girls complete the sweep

The Seaman girls completed a dominant season that saw them drop just one match to open the season while maintaining the state's top ranking all season.

Benoit said he'd thought from the beginning that the team had the potential to win the state title, considering whom it had brought back.

"I really thought with the team we had, we could win," he said. "But we had to concentrate, make our spares, be confident and not get down.

"I think they did that really really well, knowing they were seeded No. 1 all year," Benoit said. "The only meet they lost was the very first meet at Free State. To handle all the pressure all year, all our girls being so good, I thought they did an excellent job."

Benoit said the whole team stepped up on Friday but gave a special shout out to sophomore JaeLinn Thetford, a new student this year who had the team’s third-best individual game with a 223 in her second game and a 553 overall.

A big Baker series

Seaman came out of the 10-pin series with a slim lead over Salina South, 2,411-2,402.

Bishop Carroll (2,383) and Augusta (2,323) were right behind them as well, but just like the boys, the girls clutched up in the Baker games.

A 176, 202, 211 and 173 boosted Seaman's score to 3173 as it held off Bishop Carroll (3,144) and Great Bend (3,143) for the title.

Benoit also gave the girls a pep talk before some of their Baker games to help inspire the group.

"I talked to them," said Benoit. "And said, “Girls, it's right here, it's how bad you want it. Show me how bad you want it.'"

Senior Makenzie Millard (second, 697) and sophomore Cheyenne Turkin (14th, 590) had two of the top 20 individual scores as Millard scored a near-perfect 279 in her first game.

And that was after Millard had left practice early the night before after not feeling well.

"I was really nervous about today," said Millard after bowling the second-best score in the state to end her high school career. "I think it was the nerves, I was definitely nervous about today. Shooting as good as I did, not feeling well, it feels great."

"At practice, I was struggling a little, I couldn’t find where to stand. I couldn’t find my mark. I'm very surprised I shot 279 in the first game."

And like the boys, the girls didn't know they had won it until the PA announced it to the alley.

"Speechless," said Millard on her reaction. "It means a lot, this is only the second girl's state title in Seaman history. It feels good to go out with a bang."

Benoit said he will remember the resilience of this group and the way they thought through things over the course of the year.

"The first year when we won the boys state title in 2019, the girls finished second," said Benoit. "We felt like we let it slip away. That was the big thing I tried to get across to Katie and Makenzie and the girls who were here in 2019. If we get there, don't let it slip away."

Contact Seth Kinker at skinker@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @SethKinker.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Seaman girls and boys bowling teams win 5A Kansas state titles