When the calendar flips to February, Marshalltown boys bowling reloads and rises to the occasion.
On paper, the Bobcats weren’t even close to being a favorite to qualify as a team this year. That was no problem for MHS, knocking down the pins necessary to emerge as district runners-up from their home state qualifier at Wayward Social on Tuesday morning and qualifying once again for the Class 3A team state tournament.
Marshalltown rolled up 3,003 pins, finishing second only to Waterloo West with a 3,069. Sophomore Aiden Cowan will also represent the Bobcats as an individual qualifier, posting the 8th best series with a 621 that was five pins clear of the next closest bowler.
“There was definitely an uphill battle, but it’s the exact same thing we did last year,” MHS head coach Nate Clark said. “We knew it was going to be West and Waukee that we’d have to beat … so it was pretty cool to knock Waukee off.”
Unlike last year’s come-from-behind showing where the Bobcats climbed from fourth to second in the final three Baker games, Marshalltown set the early pace with a 1,005 through the first five games.
West caught up to overtake Marshalltown after 10 games, and then it was down to Waukee and the Bobcats, on neighboring lanes and well-aware of the other’s highs and lows.
The Bobcats started the final five games with a 15-pin lead that Waukee squished down to a 10-pin margin in Game 11.
The next game was a big swing in Marshalltown’s favor, leaving no open frames with six consecutive strikes for a 235, while Waukee came in with only a 175.
“Once we noticed there was actually a chance to qualify I can say that our hands were trembling,” Cowan said. “And mine still are. … I’m ecstatic, I lost my voice.”
The Bobcats kept the foot on the gas for the final few Bakers, with Waukee finishing 127 pins back in third.
“We knew we had made it and everyone was just really happy,” said Marshalltown sophomore Jayden Beichley.
Beichley and Cowan are the two returners from last year’s state team, and while there were some growing pains at points in the season bringing new bowlers into the fold, the Bobcats turned it on on Tuesday.
“We really had to prove we could make it to state,” Beichley said. “It’s like a whole new team. We all really wanted to go to state and the energy level was high so we had to maintain it.”
In the individual rounds, Cowan rode the high of qualifying as a team to a monster first game, perfect through eight frames and finishing with a 269 for the early lead among individuals.
The sophomore came back down to earth in the final two games but finished strong with several strikes in his final few frames of his third game to lock in his spot.
“I was zoned in that first game and did not handle the move [to a different lane] well,” Cowan said. “But even when I had a bad start, I just had to realize that if I came out with a strong finish, that’ll typically help you out a lot.”
Cowan averages around 200 pins per game to lead the Bobcats.
“I’m absolutely proud of him, he works harder than anyone on the lanes,” Clark said. “Hopefully, we can bring back some more hardware – it was cool to coach Damon [Borton] two years ago to second place.”
Cowan will compete in the 3A individual tournament scheduled for 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 20, which comes after the 3A team tournament scheduled for 3 p.m. on Monday, Feb. 19, with all tournaments held at Cadillac XBC in Waterloo.