JOHNSON BRINGS GOLD BACK HOME TO FOREST CITY

After being eliminated by just two pins in the first round of bracket play last year, Forest City’s Kali Johnson rolled through the eight-person field this year to become Forest City’s first bowling state champion.

The individual bowling state meet is a two-part marathon to win state. First, all 32 state qualifiers compete in a series, and only the top eight of the original 32 make it to the final. Those final eight compete in quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals, just like a regular eight-person tournament to decide the champion.

Last year, Johnson qualified with the eighth-best score of 558 and drew the 1-seed in the opening round, falling to Kennady Bigwood, Camanche – the eventual champion – 215 to 213. Bigwood beat Johnson’s former teammate, Chiara Thompson, in the state championship 191 to 181.

This year, Johnson was one of the favorites coming into the day, qualifying for state with the second-best series score of 661. But once she arrived at Maple Lanes this morning in Waterloo, Johnson quickly announced herself as the best.

Johnson

She again qualified for the eight-person final bracket, but this time with the best score and was the #1 seed with a 636 series.

In the first round, Johnson beat Kylee Kirchner of Vinton-Shellsburg, the 8-seed. That set up a semifinal matchup with Molly Bramble of powerhouse Lousia Muscatine. Bramble, a sophomore, was the fifth seed and defeated fourth-seeded Isabel Crawford, a sophomore from Charles City, in the quarterfinals. After beating Bramble, Johnson set up another Forest City vs. Camanche state championship, but this time the red and white came out on top. Johnson defeated third-seeded Abby Nylin 249 to 158 to cruise to the title.

Johnson

Forest City head coach Charlie Frascht

Johnson will bowl at Coe College next year.  (Read that full story here) Coach Dodge of Coe College was at the state meet and talked with KIOW.

Coach Dodge of Coe College

Final eight bracket

QUARTERFINALS

#1 Kali Johnson def. 237-209 #8 Kylee Krchner of Vinton-Shellsburg

#4 Isabel Crawford of Charles City def. #5 Molly Bramble of Louisa Muscatine

#2 Bailey Secrest of St. Albert vs. #7 Claire Girkin of Charles City

#3 Abbi Nylin of Camanche def. #6 Kylee Kooi of Camanche

SEMIFINALS

#1 Johnson def. 222-160 #5 Bramble

#3 Nylin def. #7 Girkin

FINALS

#1 Johnson def. 249-158 #3 Nylin