Comet boys advance to State Bowling Team Championships; Noah White makes individual cut

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

SANBORN — Though 191 games roughly come in the same size, they can vary in aesthetics.

Ugly … Pretty … Dirty … or Clean.

In their final Baker Rotation game of Tuesday’s Class 1A-District 5 boys bowling tournament at Locomotive Lanes and Diner, the Charles City Comets rolled a collective “clean” 191 game to finally escape from the Forest City Indians, who fiercely stalked them along the entire 15-game trail, and advance to the State Bowling Team Championships after pocketing a district title.

“They were up by 30 after the first game, then we went up by 6 after two … then we would go up by 30,” Charles City head coach Doug Bohlen said, “It was up and down, back and forth all the way through. It was exciting.”

Bohlen perhaps gets most excited when he sees his team pick up 1-pin spares in succession with a state berth on the line, especially with Forest City smoking the rather dry pair of lanes with a strike-heavy 224 final game — Charles City had built an 88-pin lead against nearest competitor FC going into the final game

The Indians put the pressure on but the Comets refused to “open” the door … figuratively as well as literally.

“We didn’t throw too many strikes, but we converted our spares and that saved us,” Bohlen said after his Comets finished 55 pins ahead of the Indians (2,918 to 2,864), with district host Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn placing third (2,802) ahead of Sergeant Bluff-Luton (2,342) — North Iowa and Pocahontas Area had incomplete teams.

Bohlen remarked that the 191 game was one of two “clean” games (no open frames) the Comets achieved in the team state-qualifier with the other being a 235.

The Comets advance to the Class 1A State Team tourney next Tuesday (Feb. 20) at Cadillac Lanes in Waterloo. Charles City’s girls team, which won its state-qualifier the day before at Locomotion Lanes, will also be competing that day at Cadillac Lanes with the Class 1A team event for both boys and girls starting at 3 p.m.

With Charles City’s 175-mile trek to Sanborn being by far the longest road trip of the season, it’s kind of ironic that the oil pattern at Locomotion Lanes was likely the shortest and driest the Comets had to navigate during the season.

And in the subsequent individual qualifier, the lanes naturally got drier.

Charles City placed three bowlers in the top eight, but only one in the top four for a state berth.

Comet freshman Noah White rolled a consistent 604 three-game series (207, 200, 197) to make the cut.

Charles City sophomore Jayden Lopez was a missed spare short of making the top four with a 582 series.

Freshman Joey Robel had a 540 series amid the top eight; junior Keaton Ross — a state-qualifier last season — rolled a 530; junior Shayne Groesbeck bowled a 525; and sophomore Sullivan Gerleman shot a 511 for Charles City.

The Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn trio of Jack Mastbergen (652), Eli Mastbergen (636) and Caleb Aaron (622) were the top three individual placers.

The Class 1A State Individual Tournament will take place next Wednesday (Feb. 21) at Cadillac Lanes starting at 9 a.m.

Individual qualifiers from the Comet girls team include freshman Kinleigh Bahe, who was the girls SQ champion; senior Claire Girkin, who placed fourth at last year’s state meet; and juniors Payton Hadley and Darien Hesse.