Punching Their Ticket

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

WATERLOO — After punching their ticket for the Class 1A Boys Bowling State Team Tournament by way of winning the 15-game Baker Rotation round of Tuesday’s qualifying meet at Cadillac Lanes while averaging just below 206 a game in the process, it was time to break up the Comets.

With high school bowling adopting a new format for its qualifying and state tournaments, team and individual performances are now separate. So after high-fiving, fist-bumping and offering other adamant support to each other in seizing the lone qualifying team spot from the six-team field with a first-place total pinfall of 3,089 — 333 pins better than runner-up Forest City — Charles City’s rollers were now competing against each other in the subsequent three-game series individual round for the four individual qualifying spots.

Even in the more cutthroat individual round, there still was no “I” in “Team” as far as the Comets were concerned as they continued to gather for pep talks between games, cheered each other heartedly and even advised each other of the better line shots and changing pattern play along Cadillac’s synthetic lanes.

As it turned out, the sum of the individual parts had the Comets placing six in the Top 10 among the 36 vying for the aforementioned coveted berths.

Two Comets placed in the top four: senior Cael Bohlen, last year’s Class 1A boys individual champion, who led the entire pack with a 702 series that included a 267 first game; and senior Dillan Ross, who placed fourth with a 618 series.

Comet Keaton Ross, who bowled well in the Baker Rotation round, stayed hot going into the individual round and was only trailing Bohlen and Emmetsburg’s two-handed bowler Grant Householder through two games with a 466 total at that juncture. But three open frames including a couple of splits to start the third game plagued the Charles City freshman on way to a 147 game capping a 613 series for fifth place.

Jordan Trunkhill of Forest City finished his third game with 11 strikes in a row after a spare in the first frame for a 290 game, capping his second-place 672 series. Householder was third with a 657 series.

Charles City seniors Jackson Cook (595 series), Kaleb Cotton (563) and Landon Luft (551) placed sixth, eighth and 10th, respectively, in the individual round.

In the race for the lone team berth, the Comets weren’t always setting the pace. After a lackluster 149 Baker score in the second game, Charles City was trailing Forest City by 27 pins.

Comet head coach Doug Bohlen made sure his team wasn’t going to let the Indians widen the gap any further.

“I just got them together and told them they were much better than that,” he said. “And they proved that they were.”

After the second-game clunker, the Comets followed with a 235 and proceeded to record scores of 200 or better in nine of the next 10 games.

Meanwhile in Cedar Rapids, the Charles City girls had a fine showing in their Class 2A qualifier at May City Bowl. In the Baker Rotation round for one of two top-team qualifying spots, Charles City compiled a 15-game score of 2,562 while averaging more than 172 a game.

“I thought if they bowled (2,500), they would have a good shot of getting in,” said Bohlen, who was monitoring the simultaneous girls tournament by cell phone. “But they were going against a lot of good bowlers down there.”

Western Dubuque (2,663) and Clinton (2,614) earned the top-two qualifying spots ahead of third-place Charles City.

In the individual round, Comet sophomore Claire Girkin finished strong with a 222 in the third game of her 544 series, but it was eight pins shy of breaching the Top 8 qualifying spots.

Charles City senior southpaw Sofia Nelson also bowled well in the individual round (534) with a 214 in her first game.

Picking the ideal time of the season to bowl at their best, Charles City juniors Natalie White and Aliya Elsbury rolled respective three-game scores of 467 and 465 with Elsbury shooting a career-high 220 in her second game.

Rounding out the individual scores for Charles City were Isabell Crawford (418) and Ragan Hintgen (372).

The Class 1A Boys State Team Tournament will take place Feb. 21 at Cadillac Lanes starting at 9 a.m. The eight qualifying teams will each bowl 15 Baker games before being seeded 1-8, 2-7, 3-6, 4-5 in a head-to-head best-of-three elimination bracket.

The Class 1A Boys State Individual Tournament will take place Feb. 22 at Maple Lanes in Waterloo starting at 9 a.m. The 32 qualifying individuals will each bowl a three-game series before the top eight being seeded 1-8, 2-7, 3-6, 4-5 in a head-to-head single-game elimination bracket.

“They made it more similar to the format used in college,” Bohlen said. “It gives more kids a chance to qualify as individuals.

“They bowl more at tournaments … the equivalent of six games. But they’re kids. Bowling more games shouldn’t be a problem for them. When I was their age, I was bowling 20 games a day.”

Class 1A Boys Bowling State Qualifier 

AT CADILLAC LANES

WATERLOO

Team 15-Game Baker Scores

(First Place Advances)

1. Charles City 3,089, 2. Forest City 2,756, 3. Emmetsburg 2,218, 4. Southeast Warren 2,210, 5. Waterloo Columbus 2,181, 6. Pocahontas Area 1,699

Top Four Individual Qualifiers

1. Cael Bohlen (CC) 702, 2. Jordan Trunkhill (FC) 672, 3. Grant Householder (E) 657, 4. Dillan Ross (CC) 618

Class 2A Girls Bowling State Qualifier

AT MAY CITY BOWL

CEDAR RAPIDS

Team 15-Game Baker Scores

(First and Second Place Advance)

1. Western Dubuque 2,663, 2. Clinton 2,614, 3. Charles City 2,563, 4. Decorah 2,456, 5. Xavier 2,455, 6. Waterloo East 2,390, 7. Marion 2,325, 8. CR Washington 1,997

Top Eight Individual Qualifiers

1. Ceci Daly (WD) 733, 2. Malorie Cary (WE) 652, 3. Baylee Neyen (WD) 609, 4. Sidney Pawski (C) 586, 5. Brooklyn Neyen (WD) 585, 6. Kadence Hyde (WE) 584, 7. Grace Geleman (D) 561, 8. Rebecca Bruening (D) 552