Xavier junior Tara Trcka figured her chance at repeating as Class 1A state bowling champion went down the gutter when she threw a 148 in her first game in the regional tournament Thursday afternoon at Lancer Lanes.

She leads the state, after all, with a 217 average.

Like a true champion, however, she rebounded in her second game with 11 strikes and a near-perfect 279 score.

Trcka’s 427 series gave her the regional title and an automatic place among individuals in the state tournament next Friday in Des Moines.

To make the win even sweeter, she served as anchor for the Xavier girls team that copped the regional team trophy to also qualify for the state meet.  It will be the second time in three years for Coach Russ Camacho’s team to vie for the championship.

“I really didn’t think there was a chance I was going to qualify after that first game,” Trcka said.  “It was quite a relief that I got in.”

Last year she bowled poorly in the regionals due to a hand injury and barely squeezed into the state tournament field.  In her clutch second game Thursday she started with six strikes, then recorded a spare and finished with five more strikes.

The performance seemed to inspire her teammates as they put together a 947 Baker series for a total team score of 2635 to top the six-team field.

Camanche finished second with 2570, followed by DeWitt Central (2240), Marion (2110), Maquoketa (2094) and Bellevue (1753).

Taylor Lamm of Marion came in third in the individual competition with a 358 and Abbey Kunzen of Xavier was fifth with a 340. Lamm was the final qualifier to make it into the state tournament field.

“This was a total team win,“ Camacho said. “Tara is our leader, of course, but all the girls really improved this year.  “We kind of struggled out of the gate today and missed a lot of spares. But I’m so proud that the girls battled back.”

He said Trcka’s bounce-back high game motivated the others.

“The team relies on her when she’s on her game. It gives them confidence, and they feed off of each other.”

Series scores for the other members of the Xavier team included Haley Jensen (313), Erica Fry (308), Lisa Olberding (300) and Tyler Weger (260).

In the Class 1A boys regional competition, Camanche junior Kyle Gifford combined a 300 first game with a 278 to easily garner the individual title.

Camanche also took the boys team title with a 3337 score, followed by DeWitt Central (2954), Maquoketa (2944), Xavier (2817), Bellevue (2773) and Marion (2610).

STATE TOURNAMENT QUALIFIERS

CLASS 1A GIRLS

Teams

Keokuk 2743
Mount Pleasant 2684
C.R. Xavier 2635
Camanche 2570
West Delaware 2525
Oelwein 2393
Newton 2388
Denison-Schleswig 2387
Red Oak 2290
Clarke 2181


Individuals

Hannah Seyb (Keokuk) 436
Tara Trcka (CR Xavier) 427
Steph Ford (Mount Pleasant) 421
Morgan Determan (Camanche) 398
Maggie Weber (Wat. Columbus) 392
Kristina Hochrein (Wahlert) 391
Kayla Redeker (Lewis Central) 388
Jody Schares (Wat. Columbus) 385
Maddie Starman (Denison-Schleswig) 382
Leah Heim (West Delaware) 382
Megan West (Oelwein) 379
Emily Braga (Newton) 364
Heather Hodges (DM Hoover) 363
Davidson (Creston) 362
Megan Dolphin (Western Dubuque) 359
Taylor Lamm (Marion) 358

CLASS 1A BOYS

Team

Camanche 3337
West Delaware 3310
Red Oak 3113
Louisa-Muscatine 3101
Western Dubuque 309
Oelwein 3059
Fairfield 3009
Sergeant Bluff-Luton 2970
Clarke 2636
D.M. Hoover 2603

Individuals

Kyle Gifford (Camanche) 578
AJ Chapman (West Delaware) 514
Luke Schroeder (Western Dubuque) 513
Beau Hahn (Louisa-Musc) 489
Brandon Lynch (West Delaware) 485
Dylan Werner (West Delaware) 483
Stian Hoff (Fairfield) 477
Grant Cosselman (Oelwein) 476
Allen Mumm (DeWitt Central) 472
Jay Kolsrud (Camanche) 467
Taylor Mellott (Red Oak) 459
Holden Berry (Red Oak) 456
Brian Wade (Red Oak) 449
Jason Schmitt (Sgt. Bluff-Luton) 437
Harrah (Central Decatur) 436
Austin Artwain (Norwalk) 390