Messenger photo by Britt Kudla Leah Sanck competes for Fort Dodge against Urbandale on Thursday at Ridgewood Lanes. For more photos, please visit CU.messengernews.net

WATERLOO — The Fort Dodge bowling program had a day to remember during their state-qualifying meet a week ago.

Now the Dodgers will try to do it again under the bright lights at Cadillac Lanes.

Both the FDSH boys and girls will be competing in the Class 2A state tournament on Tuesday. The meet begins at 10 a.m.

Expectations are high on paper for Nick Vinson’s Dodgers, who both turned in stellar performances in Le Mars to advance. The boys clinched a district title with a 3,234 team total, which ranks as the second-best qualifying score in the entire field behind only Ottumwa’s 3,318.

The defending state champion girls move on with an at-large bid after a 2,818 cumulative score, behind only regional winners Keokuk and Le Mars.

“Both teams are going in with Top-3 (qualifying) scores, but we also bowled a lot higher than we have all year,” Vinson said. “My expectations for us are to bowl the best possible score on that day and let the chips fall where they may. I know that is an easy answer, but it’s been our mantra all year and it seems silly to try and change things now just because it’s state. This mission has served us well all season long, so we’ll continue to (abide by it).

“I preach the same things to the kids before every meet. All we need from you is the best you can give us today. It doesn’t mean they have to have their best score ever — we just need to maximize our pin count every meet. We can’t control how anyone else does; there’s no reason to worry about their scores. The more we stay in our own lane, the better off we will be.”

FDSH senior Tre Preston recorded the second-best individual series from the 2A qualifying sites, rolling a 242-245–487 in Le Mars. Junior Kaleb Anderson, who will be participating in his third consecutive state meet, was next in line at 258-207–465.

Senior David Folsom (204-239–443), sophomore Jayden Ray (244-189–433), freshman Carson Werning (158-256–414) and junior Brady Graves (201-199–400) all recorded series totals of 400 or better last Tuesday.

“The boys have a couple of different leaders and their chemistry is really starting to shine through,” Vinson said. “They had a couple of physical leaders (throughout the course of the year) in Kaleb and Jayden, who are just consistently bowling the heck out of the ball. The unsung hero of this team, though, is David Folsom. He is the verbal and emotional leader. David doesn’t always say much, but he does what he can to keep everyone in the same boat and moving in the same direction.”

The CIML Iowa regular season champion girls saw sophomore Alexis Kenney emerge as a serious individual contender with a state-qualifying best 234-246–480 series last week. Senior Kat Flores (195-211–406) was next in line, followed by Leah Sanck — the 2019 individual state queenpin — at 158-198–356). Sophomore Lexi Hanson also took a Top-10 spot in Le Mars at 223-125–348.

“As seniors, Leah and Kat are great leaders. Leah consistently shows up and gives us good numbers, and Kat does all the other stuff,” Vinson said. “The chemistry is great. They have really gelled together and becoming one functioning unit. It shows in the different bowlers putting up big numbers every meet. They all really care about each other, and I truly believe they have embraced what (Alabama softball coach) Pat Murphy calls, ‘Mudita,’ which quite simply means they are as happy when their teammates have success as they would be if it was their own personal success.

“Our kids (on both sides) are all very physically skilled, but when we run into problems at times is on the mental side. That would be one thing I feel like I can really improve on (as a coach), and will help us continue to move forward as a program.”

Vinson is hoping the prior state success of Anderson and the Dodger girls will be a guiding light on Tuesday, but added, “this is a new year, and I don’t think any amount of experience can change the fact that you still have to perform.”

“On one hand, it’s immeasurable,” Vinson said. “It allows us to have a better understanding going into the tournament, and it allowed me as a coach to develop a better plan. We have to just trust that we have prepared ourselves to be successful.

“There are two things we need to do (on Tuesday): have fun, because without fun, it isn’t worth doing, and just win.”

The boys field will include the Dodgers and Ottumwa, as well as Cedar Rapids Xavier, Western Dubuque, Urbandale, Le Mars, Washington and Keokuk. The girls’ side features FDSH, Keokuk, Le Mars, Waterloo East, Waverly-Shell Rock, Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson, West Delaware and Cedar Rapids Xavier.

The Dodger boys will compete on Lane 21. The girls will be on Lane 23.