By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
For the past 15 years, Paige Wagner has been staying in her lane. And all that bowling is paying off. In the past year, Wagner competed in the U.S. National team trials and just missed a spot on national television. A former state runner-up for Great Bend High School, Wagner recently signed a letter of intent to bowl for national powerhouse Wichita State University.
"It's definitely been my dream to go there the whole time," Wagner said. "Now that they've reached out to me and offered it, that's for sure where I want to go. I'm excited to be on the team."
Wagner, the daughter of Cheri and Tim Wagner of Great Bend, has built an impressive resume on the lanes. The 18-year-old is a four-time Youth Scratch Masters champion, a two-time Southwest Gold Tour champion, and a Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) Junior National Qualifier champion.
Wagner took a perfect game into the 10th frame of what proved to be her final high school game. She finished with a 289 as the individual Class 5-1A state runner-up, and also moved the Lady Panthers into second place as a team. Her 289 individual game and 725 series at state that year are both school records, as is her 209 season average as a junior. Wagner also excelled in the classroom with a 3.8 GPA.
Wagner was hoping for a big senior season at GBHS before a nagging hip injury took her down just five frames into her first game in February.
"It was definitely very hard for me," she said. "It definitely shows how hard it is to get injured while playing a sport for high school. I just pushed through it and knew I could get past it, and continue with the big things I knew were coming up."
Wagner first suffered the hip injury of September 2021, but that hardly slowed her down. After six weeks of therapy, she was back on the lanes in Las Vegas for New Year's Eve, trying to find a spot on the U.S. National Team. The end results were disappointing, but Wagner was among the youngest of hundreds of the nation's top bowlers that featured many professionals and top-tier college athletes. Wagner shared the lanes with her favorite professional bowler Shannon O'Keefe.
"It was very nervewracking but it was a good experience to be able to be bowl with them, and just getting to know how it is to bowl with them and how they do things," said Wagner.
Two weeks after that, Wagner bowled in Euless, Texas, just outside of Dallas, at the PBA Junior Nationals. She finished in the top-10 but re-aggravated the hip injury before heading back into high school competition.
After another six weeks of therapy, Wagner is back at it. On July 3, the Wagners head south to Oklahoma City for the Youth Scratch Masters Tournament of Champions. On July 12, she will open two weeks of competition at the Junior Gold Championships in Grand Rapids, Mich. Last year, Wagner tied for fifth out of 570 bowlers and just missed a televised tournament by one placing. She won $3,000 in scholarship money at that tournament a year ago, bringing her total to nearly $17,000.
The key to her success, Wagner said, is two-fold: lots of good work and a healthy attitude.
"I've been bowling since I was three," she said. "I'm out there every week, almost every day. Since the injury I haven't been bowling a whole lot, but usually I'm out there every day.
"You're definitely going to make mistakes in bowling, or any sport in general. Make sure to keep the attitude good and positive. Don't worry about what happened and just move forward."