The Marshalltown boys’ bowling team advanced to its 11th-straight state tournament by winning Tuesday’s state-qualifying meet at Wayward Social. Pictured, from left, are head coach Nate Clark, GMG’s Cayden Slifer, Gage Grieves, Porter Niedermann, Carter McCready, GMG’s Jayden Beichley, Zackary Morris, and Aiden Cowan. PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER

MARSHALLTOWN – Marshalltown boys bowling – a team that counts among its ranks two GMG bowlers, ​​Jayden Beichley and Cayden Slifer – brought the fireworks early to last Tuesday’s (Feb. 18) state-qualifying meet at Wayward Social.

The Bobcats unloaded an incredible first set of Baker games that eventually led to MHS clinching their 11th-consecutive state appearance as district champions in a 3A meet in Marshalltown.

Marshalltown rolled up 3,130 pins to advance to state along with runner-up Cedar Falls at 3,056 pins. Dubuque Hempstead was the first one out in third at 2,990 pins.

“Our goal going into the season was to win state,” MHS head coach Nate Clark said. “Our motto right now is unfinished business, so this was the next step in that.”

The boys fired off Baker games of 244, 235, 253 and 249 in their first four, and finished out at 208 for a 151-pin lead on the field after five of 15 Bakers.

“That was our goal to start out hot,” Clark said. “We practiced all week and were starting well, executed that almost flawlessly. We just built off that the rest of the day.”

The next five Bakers were a step back for the Bobcats, with a 204 in their sixth game followed by four sub-200 games as Dubuque Hempstead surged to within 24 pins of the Bobcats with five Bakers to go.

Hempstead overtook Marshalltown by a slim margin after the 11th game, and with the Mustangs and Cedar Falls surging it seemed like Marshalltown was teetering on the edge.

But the Bobcats returned to form, knocking out games of 242 and 236 to jump back in the lead and bowled well-enough to close the door.

“I don’t think we got lazy, but we just took a step back and didn’t have the energy of those first five,” Clark said. “Something we’re going to need to work on.”

Closing out the district title was big for the Bobcats, after finishing as runners-up at the home state-qualifying meet last year.

“We were down in the dumps going into that third set,” said Bobcat junior Porter Niedermann. “We had to get the energy back up, but it was amazing.”

The boys fired each other up by hollering “bang time” at each other, a phrase that Niedermann described as a catch-all for getting the job done on the lanes on Tuesday.

“It’s kind of silly, but whatever gets them going,” Clark said.

Marshalltown was unable to get an individual qualifier through this year — 2024 state champion Aiden Cowan finished 11th with a 634 three-game series, short of the top-eight cutoff of 682 in a state-qualifying field that included Cedar Rapids Kennedy freshman Kinnick Robinson who rolled a 300 game en route to a runner-up individual finish.

Cowan had the high game for the Bobcats with a 266. Cayden Slifer (GMG) added a 601 series, Niedermann rolled a 573, Jayden Beichley (GMG) a 557, and Carter McCready and Gage Grieves compiled 532 and 493 pins, respectively.

“It’s a long day and unfortunately that took a toll, we got tired,” Clark said. “But we’re going as a team and that was the main goal.”

Marshalltown qualified with the seventh-best pin total of the eight teams in 3A, but the Bobcats are undeterred.

“We’re gonna win,” Niedermann said. “Bang time.”

The Class 3A team tournament took place this past Tuesday, Feb. 25, at Cadillac XBC in Waterloo. MHS was eighth last season. The Sun Courier will feature coverage from the tournament in next week’s edition.

Class 3A State-Qualifying Meet

Team Standings (Baker Games) — 1. Marshalltown 3,130, 2. Cedar Falls 3,056, 3. Dubuque Hempstead 2,990, 4. Dubuque Senior 2,948, 5. Cedar Rapids Jefferson 2,938, 6. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 2,816, 7. Mason City 2,792, 8. Linn-Mar 2,715.

Individual Qualifiers (top 8) — 1. Zach Wlochal, DS, 779; 2. Kinnick Robinson, CRK, 778; 3. Michael Solberg, MC, 737; 4. Cayden Oltmann, L-M, 708; 5. Gavin Wardle, DH, 706; 6. Nick Deeds, CRK, 689; 7. Joseph Simpson, DS, 682; 8. Jackson Satterlee, CF, 682.

INDIVIDUAL SCORES

(Three-game series)

MARSHALLTOWN — Aiden Cowan 634, Cayden Slifer 601, Porter Niedermann 573, Jayden Beichley 557, Carter McCready 532, Gage Grieves 493.