Comet record-setting roller Macy Ross signs with Mount Mercy

By John Burbridge sports@charlescitypress.com

CHARLES CITY — Bumper bowling … it’s not just for toddlers.

“I hate to say it, but that’s what it often is with the house conditions high school and league bowlers bowl on,” said Andy Diercks, head bowling coach at Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids.

“It’s dry on the outside with oil in the middle,” Diercks said. “You miss outside, and there’s enough friction to bring the ball back. You miss inside, and the oil keeps you on target.

“The conditions are far more challenging in college. You miss your mark, you end up paying.”

There are other challenges for college bowlers, like the amount of games bowled in one day during a tournament.

“It’s not like high school when even a state tournament is only about two and half hours long,” Diercks explains.

And then on the flip side, you might not bowl at all.

“If you’re not in the starting lineup, there’s a lot of sitting,” Diercks said. “Sometimes that’s hard on the new bowlers as well as their parents.”

Diercks believes his newest recruit will likely be an active roller for his Mustangs.

“She’s really solid fundamentally,” Diercks said of recent Charles City graduate Macy Ross, who signed her letter of intent to bowl for MMU on Tuesday at Comet Bowl.

“Her ball has great rotation and good speed,” Diercks said. “We can really build from that.”

Ross has just completed an outstanding bowling career with the Comets.

She was the Class 1A state girls individual champion in 2016 before finishing third as an individual in 2017 and fifth last season.

After winning the girls state qualifying individual title her senior year, Ross helped the Comets place second as a team at the State Bowling Championships — the best-ever placing for Charles City, which also fielded the Class 1A runner-up boys team this past season.

During the tailend of the past regular season, Ross nearly rolled a perfect game (299) before finishing with a 553 two-game series. Both scores are Comet program records for both the girls and the boys.

“I still haven’t gotten one, yet,” Ross said of an elusive perfect game.

Ross had been considering other schools before deciding to roll with the Mustangs.

“I really like Andy and I really liked the campus when I visited,” said Ross, who will be reuniting with former Comet teammate Mija Cotton, who continued her bowling career at MMU after helping Charles City’s girls team place 3rd at state in 2017.

“And I really liked how (Diercks) ran his practices,” said Ross, who will study to become a nurse at MMU.

Among the things Ross says she’s working on to adjust to the more challenging conditions is her slide step.

“I know it’s going to be tougher bowling on the ‘sport’ conditions in college,” Ross said. “Most bowling alleys just put out ‘house’ conditions so there’s nowhere to practice for it.”

Not only are the conditions tougher in college, but according to Diercks the competition atmosphere is far more intense.

“You ought to come to one of our college tournaments,” Diercks said. “There’s nothing like it in college sports.

“Watching college bowling is much more better experience than watching professional bowling.”