T-R PHOTO BY ROSS THEDE - Marshalltown senior bowler Carter McCready looks to the scoreboard in disbelief after missing the 10-pin on his last ball during the Class 3A individual tournament at the IHSAA State Bowling Championships on Monday morning at Cadillac XBC in Waterloo.

WATERLOO — Carter McCready spent his first winter in high school playing basketball at BCLUW. Gage Grieves was a member of the Marshalltown boys basketball program as a sophomore.

On Monday morning, both Bobcat seniors competed in the IHSAA State Bowling Championships at Cadillac XBC in Waterloo and performed admirably.

A single 10-pin left standing may have meant the difference between 15th place and a spot in the championship bracket for McCready, but the BCLUW High School senior will never know for sure after Monday’s Class 3A individual tournament ended for him and Grieves after three games.

McCready finished in 15th place with a 708 series and Grieves got 16th with a 691 before the field of 32 was reduced to eight to determine the state title. The eighth and final qualifier advanced with a 720.

After stumbling a bit in the second game, McCready rolled three-straight strikes in the 10th frame and carried the momentum into the third round. He scored a strike in each of the first nine frames before leaving only the 10-pin with his first roll of the 10th.

And for the first time all day, McCready missed.

Another ball and perhaps another 10 pins and might have put McCready into the finals, but he was thrilled about the 12 consecutive strikes that put him in that position in the first place.

“Yeah, my second game was a little rough, but I figured it out and in the third game I just gave myself a shot at getting to that top eight but didn’t make it,” he said. “That was my only open in the third game.”

That open 10th frame to finish was McCready’s only open frame of the entire day. He rolled seven strikes in both the first and second games and picked up nine spares along the way, rolling 232-209-267–708.

That 267 to finish was his career-high game as a Bobcat, and still it wasn’t quite enough.

“I knew it was going to give me a chance, I knew it was gonna be close,” McCready said.

It’s said that close is for horseshoes.

“I knew if he finished the game, it would have put him over the top,” said MHS head coach Nate Clark, “but unfortunately that didn’t happen. I’m still proud of them regardless.”

Zach Wlochal of Dubuque Senior set the bar as the top seed with a 795 series, while Bettendorf’s Zach Grothus posted the eighth-best score of 720. Wlochal eventually finished second to Urbandale’s Damien Timm, falling 236-233 in the head-to-head finale.

The math works out that McCready could have tied that 720 series with a spare and a closing strike, forcing a playoff for that eighth and final spot, but the Bobcats won’t cry over spilt pins.

“I was just glad to be here,” said McCready. “Either way, if I made it or not, I’m glad I had the chance and just got to bowl for Marshalltown.”

McCready and Grieves represented the Bobcats’ first individual qualifiers since then-sophomore Aiden Cowan claimed the 3A crown two years ago.

Cowan, like fellow Bobcat senior bowlers Jayden Beichley and Porter Niedermann, were there in Waterloo to cheer on their teammates. Marshalltown’s string of consecutive state team berths was halted at 11 after missing out on this year’s tournament, but the unity persisted even though the dream of a team title didn’t.

Grieves, who rolled 233-225-233–691, said that’s what brought him back to bowling after taking his sophomore year to play basketball instead. Grieves was on the varsity bowling roster as a freshman for a team that went to state, and he eventually found his way back to Wayward Social.

“We were going to be missing a lot of people from my freshman year and I thought it’d be better to switch over to basketball,” Grieves said, “but I was really connected to the (bowling) guys.”

McCready (206.15) and Grieves (205.85) ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, on the senior-laden Bobcat squad in scoring average this season, which is why hopes were high for the squad as a whole. Only some of its parts made it to state, however.

“I really thought any or all five of them could make it and advance to the top-eight here,” said Clark. “We had crazy numbers all year long so there’s no reason we couldn’t have done that here at state.

“They both performed extremely well. They both went clean the entire day until that 10th frame in the last game, which ultimately was the difference, but super-proud of how they battled all day.”

Grieves had the first big run of strikes, rolling a turkey in the first game before closing it out with four-straight strikes. He only had to pick up one three-pin spare all day before leaving a single pin standing in his 10th and final frame of game three.

McCready knocked down a four-pin spare in the first game but never left anything more than two pins after his first ball the rest of the way.

“I miss not being here with the team because, again, we had a chance this year, but I’m just glad I could make it here and perform and still represent our team,” he said. “It meant a lot. I worked hard to get here and I’m glad I had a shot. I gave myself an opportunity.”