Monday morning at Wayward Social, they turned up — and ended up leading the Bobcats to a seventh-straight state tournament appearance.

The Bobcats were runaway winners in their district, rolling a season-high score of 3,273 to take the team crown. The Bobcats were led by the sophomore duo, as Borton won medalist honors with a 494, while Ratte finished second with 235-232–467.

Wilder said he was very proud of the duo for showing out on a big stage.

“They came out of the gates hot,” Wilder said. “I said to the both of them, ‘This is not new to you, you do this a lot. But in the second game, you fall off. You need to find it and keep hold of it.’ They dug deep and found it.”

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING - Marshalltown’s Damon Borton celebrates a strike during the second game of individual play at Monday’s Class 3A district boys bowling meet at Wayward Social. Borton was the meet medalist with a 241-253—494 series that helped the Bobcats win the district and advance to state for the seventh consecutive season.

Marshalltown started off very strong in the first game of the series, with all but one bowler rolling better than a 200.

But the first game has not been the problem this season for Marshalltown. Wilder has spoken multiple times about the group’s tendency to do worse in the second game — and for half of the team that was the result Monday.

But Borton, Demitri Ferneau and Xander Pickett improved in game two. Pickett has struggled much of the season after returning midway through the year from injury, but a second game 266 gave him a series of 449 and a third-place finish in the district.

Ferneau, Marshalltown’s steady rock this season, struggled for much of the day. Wilder said he was making too many technical changes to his setup during the meet and put himself off, but he found his way to a 445 thanks to a second-game 226. Dylan Cooper finished with 257-191–448, and Dru Wilder bowled 237-179–416.

Borton had seven strikes in the first seven frames of his second game. After a setback in the eighth set, he got a strike in the ninth and finished strong for a career day with 241-253.

T-R PHOTO BY NOAH ROHLFING

Borton said it was help from his coaches and teammates that got him to this point.

“It felt good,” Borton said. “My teammates were very cheerful with me and kept me going.”

The Bobcats held their position in the Baker games to advance without much trouble — the team’s seventh straight trip to state.

This team is particularly special for Wilder, who is in his third season with the program.

“This is a team that I feel is my team,” Wilder said. “These juniors, they came in with me. So now this, I didn’t inherit this team from the previous group, none of the bowlers that were on this team were there. I feel like this is my team, and for me it’s very special to have this young team, this team that came in with me — this is my team. This is the team that I’ve had since I’ve been here, and to do what we did today, that’s very special to me.”

Now the Bobcats must prepare for next Tuesday’s meet at Cadillac XBC Lanes in Waterloo — the site of last season’s second-place finish and individual triumph from Lucas Kramer.