KEARNEY, Neb. --

It looked like it was going to be a little rocky at the start. Cole Cavenee chose to shoot three warm-ups, and after making the first, missed the next two. No problem, they say.

“At (Colorado) Springs, he did the same thing,” said his father, Tanner, from the O’Hare International Airport. “It didn’t bother me. It’s something like when he’s gone through the warmups and everything, it’s no different than when I work with him in the gym.”

“I know that I missed them, but I know that I can make them, so let’s just make them,” said Cole.

And make them, he did. In the Elks format, each shooter gets their warm up period and then they take 10 straight free throws. Cole was perfect.

“I felt a lot better,” said Cole, sitting across from his dad. “I kind of felt relieved that I made 10.”

So were three other kids. As the 11th of 12 shooters, Cole had a lot of time to lose momentum. The next round sees each kid take 15 straight free throws and there’s no warm-up in advance.

“I talked to Coach (Matt) Kern from York, and (the 11th free throw) in our book is the toughest one to make,” said Tanner.

As the previous shooters would all miss at least two in the next round, Cole’s turn came up. Meanwhile, mom and dad had a few thoughts as he was stepping up to the line knowing the stakes.

“We kind of went through this with Kendal (Cole’s older sister) at the state tournament a little bit too, with some pressure situations,” said Tanner. “Chas (Cole’s mom) was right next to me and she had her sheet and she was marking everything as she was going along. I think she was kind of doing that to keep her nerves down.

“We have been able to watch our kids do some pretty amazing things this year.”

Cole went 17 for 17, missed the 18th, then canned the rest. Already a winner in the sense they got to qualify for nationals, there’s always the desire to come home a champ.

“One of the things the Elks had set up was something called ‘Best Swishes’, and they had a magazine printed out with comments from his classmates,” said Tanner. “I would say over 50 percent of them were saying, ‘Go win this thing!’

“He’s a coaches kid, his aunt (Jade Meads Brown-UNK basketball) was an All-American athlete. Before the event, and you know I’m a coach, we were thinking ‘Let’s win this sucker.’ So, I think that was his mindset.”

The last shooter entered going 10 for 10, the 11th was a miss, and Cole knew the situation from there.

“Just hoped he missed another one,” Cole said as his mom laughed in the background.

When the second misfire came to the floor, the feeling of accomplishment was instantaneous.

“Right as he missed that second one,” said Cole, wearing his National Champion hat, “It just hit me. I was like, ‘Oh, I just won!’”

And he’s saving room for more.

“Hopefully go win it next year, now.”