The sophomore for Marshalltown boys bowling had the lowest score of all 32 individual state qualifiers in Class 3A, and was the last one to make the cut for Tuesday’s head-to-head finals at the state meet.

Once Cowan realized just how close he was to a state title, though, there was no stopping him.

Cowan, the Bobcat underdog, had the hot hand at the right time to seize the Class 3A individual title at Cadillac XBC in Waterloo.

There was no doubt in the finals as Cowan rolled a 268, his best game of the day, to defeat Waterloo West freshman Rush Steen by 53 pins for the state title.

“It showed me all that effort I put in, waking up at four or five in the morning to be at practice by six, that work actually paid off, I made something of it,” Cowan said.

He’s the fourth individual bowling champion in Marshalltown history, and the first since Lucas Kramer in 2020.

In the three-game preliminary series to determine the eight head-to-head qualifiers, Cowan was on the bubble with a 238 and 213 in his first two games, then uncorked a 257 for a 708 series, an impressive score that nonetheless was only nine pins ahead of ninth place.

“He keeps his emotions in check,” MHS head coach Nate Clark said. “He knows that one ball is not going to break you — get your spares and move on, and that’s what it takes.”

Cowan earned the eight-seed and went up against Johnston’s Zach Moorman in the quarterfinals — coincidentally, the two shared a lane in the preliminaries.

Clark said he was confident that Cowan had a chance, noting Moorman’s 744 series as being his career best.

But Cowan said he wasn’t all the way invested to start.

“I wasn’t feeling the greatest. Starting bracket play, it was more of, ‘if I make it, yay, if I go home, it’s OK’,” Cowan added.

The first match was the closest of the three Cowan played in bracket play — Moorman was in control but only came away with nine pins in the 10th frame to open the door for Cowan, who finished spare-strike in the 10th for a 195-191 victory.

“Once I saw that I could have a chance if I could just focus on myself, it was all about that mindset of trying to make it to first,” Cowan said.

In the semifinals, Waukee’s Sam Kock knew the score he’d have to beat after Cowan finished with a solid 225.

Needing two strikes and 8 pins in the 10th frame, Kock left the 8 pin standing on his first ball, allowing Cowan to advance to the championship.

“It showed me that if you really just pay attention to every ball, and not get upset about the last one or think too much about the next one, you can be completely fine,” Cowan said.

In the finals with Steen, the two underclassmen were in a showdown after four frames. But Steen rolled a spare and Cowan answered with a strike in the fifth.

“That’s when I knew he had it,” Clark said. “I knew he’d be able to match him the rest of the way.”

T-R PHOTO BY JAKE RYDER - Aiden Cowan is congratulated by Marshalltown boys bowling coach Nate Clark after defeating Waterloo West’s Rush Steen in the state bowling finals on Tuesday at Cadillac XBC in Waterloo.

Steen didn’t leave an open frame the rest of the way but Cowan rolled six strikes in a row, and after rolling a strike in the 10th, knocked down nine pins to shut Steen out for the state title, finishing with a spare for good measure.

Competing the morning after Marshalltown finished eighth in the Class 3A team tournament, Cowan said he hopes the young Bobcats can come back for some better hardware next year.

But he looked down at his state champion medal, admiring it.

“This one’s pretty cool though,” Cowan said. “I think I’d like two more of these.”