Comets Gerleman, Hadley stopped short of championship round at State Bowling Individual Tournament

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

WATERLOO — Splits don’t always spell doom in bowling.

But if you get cursed with two in a row, at a state championship meet while going against a field of high-rolling state-qualifiers is probably the worst time and place for that to happen.

Charles City junior Sullivan Gerleman had put himself in contention to make the top eight for the single-elimination championship bracket during the Class 1A Boys State Bowling Individual Championships, Monday at Cadillac Lanes.

As the Comets’ lone male representative, Sullivan rolled a 223 and a 226 in the first two games of the three-game pre-bracket round, and continued to bowl well into the third game with a pair of strikes followed by a spare.

In the fourth frame, Sullivan buried his first ball in the 1-3 pocket (for right-handers) only to get “double tapped” with a 4-9 split … the headpin took out the 2- and 7-pins, but somehow wrapped around and missed the 4; and Sullivan’s heart of the rack-piercing ball chopped the 5-pin off the 9, a phenomenon that sometimes happens when you roll the ball too well.

“He threw the same ball later and drove all the pins into the pit for a strike,” Charles City boys head coach Doug Bohlen remarked. “That’s just bowling.”

Sullivan nearly picked up the split, but then threw another split in the fifth frame (didn’t convert that, either), and finished with a 182, capping a 631 series. That placed Gerleman 19th among 32 qualifiers … you nearly had to bowl a 700 series if you wanted to make it to the Class 1A boys championship bracket.

Even St. Albert junior Zayden Zuehlke, who had the highest state-qualifying series (761) among the 32 qualifiers and bowled a near-perfect 299 game during pre-bracket play, came up 7 pins short of making the top eight.

“The conditions here favor the crankers, and Sullivan is not a cranker … he focuses more on accuracy,” Bohlen said.

The Comets also had a representative in the Class 1A Girls Individual Championships — senior Payton Hadley, who qualified as an individual for the second season in a row. Incidentally, Hadley also placed 19th in her pre-bracket round (516 series).

Hadley and Gerleman and their respective teammates will be back at Cadillac Lanes on Wednesday for the Class 1A Boys and Girls State Bowling Team Championships starting at 3 p.m.

The Comet boys have qualified for state as a team 10 times; the Comet girls have qualified for state eight times.

Top eight bowlers for the boys were Sam Kress of Maquoketa (758), Jack Mastbergen of Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn (751), Tate Richart of Vinton-Shellsburg (742), Lucas Clark of Columbus Catholic (720), Byron Christianson of Vinton-Shellsburg (718), Quinn Thomas of Monticello (705), Preston Crees of Estherville-Lincoln Central (699) and Garrett Reynolds of Camanche (693).

Top eight bowlers for the girls were Kylee Kirchner of Vinton-Shellsburg (701), Callin Arens of MMCRU (645), Kamryn Taylor of Louisa-Muscatine (645), Carlie Hanson of Independence (632), Abbi Nylin of Camanche (618), Tori Richart of Vinton-Shellsburg (616), Jayden Montgomery of Sigourney (600) and Paisley Kies of Maquoketa (597).

In the boys championship game, Kress defeated Thomas 226-168; in the boys third-place game, Christianson defeated Mastbergen 216-182.

In the girls championship game, Richart defeated Hanson 204-170; in the girls third-place game, Kirchner — last season’s girls champion — defeated Arens 194-164.