Dylan Van Wyk Wins State Bowling Title

Dylan Van Wyk with his state championship medal.

Oskaloosa, Iowa – It was a league night at Mahaska Bowl, and the usual chatter and noise associated with the sport of bowling filled the venue.

Alongside those weekly bowlers was the newest state champion. Just down a couple of lanes was his coach, Tony Witt, and working on keeping the mess organized was his mother Tami.

Tony Witt took a moment before league action started to talk about the experience of coaching Oskaloosa’s first state champion in bowling.

“It was pretty awesome watching him. Didn’t have to do a whole lot of coaching, he’s a pretty talented kid,” added Witt. “I was nervous for him when he was shooting for 300 that last game. Overall, a great experience being able to be at state and watch him bowl.”

The Indians boys and girls teams missed the opportunity to travel to the state competition as a team when they fell to a good Ottumwa bowling team.

Ottumwa did well at the state tournament finishing second when they were favored to win. Witt says that the experience of being at state for the tournament will help drive the teams to be better next year.

Making the announcements just prior to the start of league play, Dylan’s mother Tami, holding back tears, made the announcement to the crowd of her son’s accomplishment at the state bowling tournament.

Dylan bowled a 226 for his opening game at the tournament. Tami says “it was very worrisome because Dylan’s one of those that if he doesn’t strike the first ball, the first game, he can talk himself completely out of that.”

“We didn’t think, honestly, he would pull it off,” said Tami. Dylan got a good break in the opening frame of the second game. “Then he kind of talked himself back into it.”

Tami says she didn’t watch him throw and looked down the entire time “because I didn’t want to jinx him.”

“Honestly, this is one of the reasons my husband and I have done this for 21 years here, is for him to have an accomplishment. So honestly, it was a dream, not just for him but for me and for my husband,” shared Tami.

Tami believes that the Oskaloosa boys team have a good possibility of being state title contenders next year. “They came this close this year, I guarantee next year they’re going to be even better.”

“I’m pretty glad that Tony’s his coach and pretty glad that the teammates that he has on there,” added Tami. ‘He wouldn’t have got to singles if it wasn’t for his teammates, and the Booyah!”

Oskaloosa sophomore Dylan Van Wyk is a pretty laid back, relaxed person. If you didn’t already know, you would have never guessed he was just crowned state champion.

“It was kind of weird at first,” said Dylan of winning the state title. “I didn’t think it was going to happen.”

For Dylan, the accomplishment of winning a state title was one of those accomplishments he got to scratch off his bucket list.

Dylan said he didn’t feel any pressure on the day for himself or from anyone else. “I didn’t really think about it. I just went there and bowled.”

Tournaments aren’t anything new for Dylan, and he says he’s been to his dad’s college tournaments, and is fairly comfortable in that atmosphere, even though he’s never been to a high school tournament yet.

Dylan will tell you he was surprised by the outcome of the day, considering how his first game went. “Then I backed it up with a 299. That helped a lot.”

One closed frame after another, Dylan says that he didn’t even think about the score as his nearly perfect game was taking place. “I just threw one shot after another.”

Looking forward to next year, Dylan says he and his team are going to try hard to make it there together.