6A bowling: Derby, Pechanec win long-awaited championships

To understand why the Derby boys bowling team winning the Class 6A championship on Friday meant so much to coach Allie Ijams, you have to be able to appreciate the past three years.

“We have always been one of the best teams, top of the pack and we’ve always been right there at state but have never won it,” Derby senior Michael Klein said.

Derby finished third the last two years and runner-up in 2014, so when the Panthers were finally able to finish on top Friday with a team score of 3,291 pins — 144 pins better than second place — Ijams was overcome with emotion when Derby was awarded its first championship in program history.

“They’ve always been incredible players, it’s just been a matter of managing their emotions, asking the right questions, and being able to execute,” Ijams said through tears. “I’ve worked with these guys for so long and I’ve seen the journey they’ve come on. I can appreciate the amount of time they’ve put in on the lanes and how much information they’ve wanted to understand. It all came together today.”

Senior Justin Pechanec led the way with a 705-pin series, which was five pins better than the field, to give Derby the individual champion as well.

Typically Pechanec is stoic and poised, but he also became emotional when it was finalized that he had won the title.

“I was thinking about it this morning about just the sheer amount of time and hours and effort and money I’ve put into this,” Pechanec said. “This is the thing I am most passionate about in my life, so to be able to come out and take the time and the training I’ve put into it and let it go to work, I couldn’t ask for anything better. I’m kind of on cloud nine right now.”

When Derby was handed its team trophy, one of the bowlers quipped “it only took us three years to do it.”

“I feel like this win was bigger than all of us,” Klein said. “It feels like we did this not just for our seniors, but for the seniors the past three years. It feels like we won this for them too.”

The day didn’t begin feeling like a championship was imminent, as Derby struggled to adjust to the new sport shot oil pattern at Northrock Lanes used this year at the state tournament for the first time. After the first game, Derby sat in fourth place, almost 100 pins behind the leader.

But the team listened to Ijams plea about reading the lanes and seeing what they were telling them.

More than any other team, Derby improved significantly after that first game and would go on to build a 75-pin advantage after the three games of individual bowling and then extended it with the best baker series of any team to cap off the day.

“Ijams kept telling us that we had to solve the puzzle,” Pechanec said. “I feel like after we solved that last piece, from there it was just go and do the job we’ve done forever. And we did it.”

Derby finished with four medalists in Pechanec, Cody Swartz (eighth with 610 series), Matthew Hedden (13th with 585) and Klein (14th with 585). Garrett Bolden and Joel Lewis also bowled on the championship team.

“It just feels so surreal right now that this is it, we finally won the whole thing,” Hedden said. “All of the hard work the past three years has finally paid off.”

Other area medalists were Northwest’s pair of Luke Ewertz (ninth with 605) and Brandon Kraus (10th with 597).

Campus mixed emotions — Campus came away with a championship, as sophomore Taylor Cessna was able to win the girls individual title, but the Colts’ two-year reign in Class 6A came to an end on Friday at the hands of Garden City.

Campus had finished a thrilling comeback at the regional tournament to take the team title from Garden City last week and it made a similar charge on Friday in the baker portion of the event, but Campus came up 11 pins short with its total of 3,132 to Garden City’s 3,143.

“We all wanted to win it and get the three-peat as a team, but you can’t always have your dreams,” said Cessna, whose series of 657 was 53 pins better than the field. “It was a good day, though. (Winning the individual) means I’ve succeeded at something I love to do.”

Campus also had medalists in Brittani Magee (seventh with 592) and Rebecca Herd (18th with 557).

East junior Addison Herzberg registered her second straight top-five finish at the state tournament, finishing fourth overall with a 600 series.

Other area medalists were Northwest’s Alyssa Smalley (fifth with 595), Derby’s Madisyn Hansen (sixth with 595), and Derby’s Shelbie Lindsey (11th with 581).

This story was originally published March 3, 2017 at 7:46 PM with the headline "6A bowling: Derby, Pechanec win long-awaited championships."