WATERLOO — Camillya Thomas won’t lose any sleep over how close she came to an all-state finish.

She’s proud of her performance and thankful for the opportunity, and that’s what makes her “Bobcat Barbie.”

The Marshalltown High School bowler and East Marshall senior improved upon her seed by 16 spots and achieved new career-highs during Thursday’s Class 3A IGHSAU State Bowling Championship at Cadillac XBC in Waterloo, finishing 13th in the season-ending individual tournament.

In spite of a bumpy start, Thomas kept her cool under pressure and performed at a level commensurate to her potential and posted career-bests during a 183-198-214–595 series that left her just 12 pins shy of advancing to the championship bracket (top 8).

Thomas, who entered state with the 29th-best qualifying score, climbed 16 positions with an 82-pin improvement that saw her stay strong until it was all over.

“It means a lot because there’s so many people that dream and wish that they could have an opportunity to make it to state, and the fact that I worked all the way up the past four years to get here, it’s a very exciting opportunity and I’m very thankful,” she said. “My first year of bowling? No, I would never thought I’d make it this far, but I kept going and I stopped doubting myself and I just kept going.”

That’s also how she overcame two open frames to start the day. Thomas’s first ball of the competition took just seven pins with it, and she was unable to pick up the spare. In the second frame, she left a single pin standing and missed the mark with her second ball.

Nerves? Jitters? Overwhelmed, perhaps?

Nope.

“I was like, ‘OK, pull it together, pull it together,'” Thomas said. “It was a lot of deep breaths, like every time I threw a ball I’ve gotta breathe. But it came out as a good outcome.

“I wasn’t nervous and I didn’t want to be nervous. I woke up like ‘let’s do this.'”

And so the Bobcat senior dubbed “Bobcat Barbie” for the pink state T-shirts donned by her supporters picked it up and had her best day on the lanes yet this season. Thomas entered the state tournament with a 157.4 scoring average but blew that away every step of the way, exceeding her best two-game series (378) with a 381 after the first two rounds.

Thomas closed out the first game at 183 thanks a turkey in the 10th frame, left no open frames in the second game for a 198, and finished off her high school career with a 214 that saw one pin left at the end of the lane after her final ball.

After the top-eight bowlers were announced for bracketed play, Thomas could hold it together no more. She shared hugs and took pictures with all of her supporters, crying throughout the celebration of a bowling career that might not yet be finished.

“I’ll be back,” she said, unsure where her passion for the game will take her next. “I’m just very thankful. I’m thankful for my team, I am thankful for the people I came across. I’ve learned a lot through the past couple of years and wouldn’t change anything about it.”

Spoken like a confident, strong, independent young woman.

Barbie would be proud.

Thomas wore a Barbie bow on her ponytail during the Bobcats’ state-qualifying meet Feb. 2 at Wayward Social after teammate and BCLUW senior Silvana Steenvoorden, a foreign exchange student from the Netherlands, offered her extra cheerleading bows to the squad.

The fashion choice worked for Thomas, who embraced the pink “B” but with a dash of spice.

“Bobcat Barbie is me, sassy bowler,” she said. “[Silvana] asked me if I wanted a bow and it just happened to be a Barbie one. Nobody else wanted it.”

Only the fifth Bobcat girl to qualify for the individual state tournament, Thomas posted Marshalltown’s best finish since Karlie Potter came in sixth in 2018. The event followed an entirely different format in 2007, when Meagan Taylor became the first MHS bowler to reach state.

“I just told her that whatever happens happens,” said Marshalltown girls coach Dustin Peterson. “You’re gonna do what you do, and as long as we’re clean and we have good, consistent games, let’s see how it falls and wish for the best.

“There’s a lot of really good bowlers in 3A. These 32 girls got here for a reason, and so for her to be in the top 32, that’s awesome right there.”

Bettendorf junior Skye Jungwirth earned the second seed for bracketed play and claimed the 3A state title, beating Des Moines Lincoln junior Michelle Wilson in the finals, 223-173. Wilson, seeded fifth, made a splash when she rolled a 290 in the quarterfinals before knocking off the top seed and fellow Railsplitter, Morgan Andrews, in the semifinals, 215-214.

Thomas took solace in knowing she could have made it to the top-8, but she didn’t dwell on it either.

“They worked very hard, too, and they still are on the lanes right now,” she said. “All those girls deserve it. I’m very proud of everybody that I’ve come across and that I’ve had bonds with from other teams. … That’s what I like about bowling, because we may be going against each other but we still let each other know that the next person’s doing a great job and we encourage each other to keep going.”

Thomas ended the day averaging 9.12 pins on her first ball, totalling 13 strikes and 18 spares with only those first two open frames as well as her final ball of the season.

“She really focused in,” Peterson said. “Sometimes she has a tendency to get down on herself, and she was able to put that aside and just focus on what she was here for. She battled back and it was great. It was a great finish for her.”