Payton Hadley and Noah White advance to Pepsi Youth Bowling Championships state tournament

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

Some people prefer to roll in a Cadillac.

Others would much rather roll at Cadillac … as in at Cadillac Lanes in Waterloo.

“I love this house,” Charles City freshman Noah White exclaimed shortly after finishing runner-up among individuals at last week’s Class 1A High School Bowling State Championships held at Cadillac.

Charles City junior Payton Hadley also shoots well at Cadillac. During the same tournament in the girls division, Hadley’s three-game preliminary total was just 12 pins shy of making the top-eight out of 32 state-qualifiers for the single-elimination championship bracket.

After helping both the Charles City boys and girls teams qualify to state and place sixth in the Team Championships, Hadley and White are due to return to Cadillac Lanes on March 17 for the Pepsi USBC Youth Championships State Tournament.

Representing Charles City Youth Bowling, Hadley and White took first place in their respective brackets at the district tournament held Feb. 18 at the Super Bowl in Forest City.

Though White recently earned the distinction of being a state championship-game finalist his first high school season, getting to the state round of the Pepsi Youth Championships has been a long-time coming for the two-handed-release-style bowler who has been repeatedly stopped short of state at districts — only district champions advance.

When tournaments reach the state level, it often comes down to who gets hot at the right time.

Both Hadley and White both have a history of catching fire. During this past HS season, Hadley had a 10-strike game (266) that was spoiled by a single open but proved to be the highest score of the season for the Comet girls.

White has a high three-game series of 804 in youth play and has bowled a 300 game in practice.