A tough field awaited the Ankeny boys’ bowling team in a Class 3A district meet on Monday.
It was going to take a huge performance at Wayward Social in Marshalltown for Ankeny to qualify for the state tournament. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen.
Coach Adam Booth’s team placed fifth among the eight squads with a score of 2,713.
“After a three-hour delay of the power going out, the system going out and the pinsetters not working, I thought we battled through adversity,” said Booth. “We rolled our best baker series of the year and had multiple (personal records).”
Ankeny bowled a 221 in its opening bakers game and later had games of 209 and 212. The team posted a 181 average for the 15 games.
“With two of the top teams in the state there, we knew it was going to be tough to qualify,” Booth said. “(Assistant) coach (Mitch) Elbert and I were proud of how they battled.”
Waterloo West easily captured the team title with a total of 3,351. Valley also qualified for state with a 2,991.
The top eight individuals also advanced to state. Rush Steen of Waterloo West claimed the individual crown with a three-game series of 779, bowling games of 267, 257 and 255.
David Lyes of Valley was the runner-up. He bowled a 249 in his last game and finished with a 719 total.
Preston Carr led Ankeny with a 600 series. He bowled games of 211, 213 and 176.
Carr finished 38 pins shy of qualifying for state. Hunter Steimel of Waterloo West was the eighth individual qualifier with a 638 total.
Ankeny’s Roscoe Wagner bowled a 553 series. He rolled a 216 in his second game.
Clayton Jamison bowled a 215 in his first game and finished with a 546 total. George Inman had a 208 in his first game and posted a 530 series.
Gavin Johnston finished with a 499 total. Sebastian Cook added a 431.