Meyer rolled a 634 total for his three-game series with games of 214-213-207. He also finished 18th place as a sophomore last season, and came in just four pins shy of his 638 total at that tournament.

“I didn’t feel as nervous as I did last year,” Meyer said. “It definitely felt good knowing what it was going to be like coming here. It didn’t go as well as I wanted to, but I still think I did pretty good.”

Meyer’s best run of the day was four consecutive strikes in his first game, but it was also where he left the 3rd and 10th frames open. Meyer didn’t have an open frame in Game 2, and missed one spare in Game 3.

There’s not a lot of margin for error in the state competition — the top-8 cutoff for bracket play was 693 pins; St. Albert’s Zayden Zuehlke nearly bowled a perfect game with a 299 for the best single-game score of the tournament and missed the cut by seven pins.

“I just needed to pick up some spares,” Meyer said. “I missed a couple easy spares, and that’s unacceptable. There’s so many good bowlers here, and if you even miss one spare, it can really screw you over.”

The Spartans bid farewell to two seniors this year, Jacob Hoy and Michael Lang.

“They were great, I had a lot of fun bowling with them,” Meyer said. “I wish some of my teammates could have been here, I feel weird being the odd man out, but it’s also nice coming here to state and having fun. I’m hoping big for next year.”

Maquoketa’s Sam Kress rolled a 758 series in qualifying to earn the top seed for bracket play and went on to win the state title, defeating sixth-seeded Quinn Thomas of Monticello, 226-168. Byron Christianson of Vinton-Shellsburg finished in third.

The Spartans are coached by Ethan Murrow and Justin Beenken and finished third behind Camanche and Waterloo Columbus at the state-qualifying meet in Camanche last week.

IHSAA Boys State Bowling

Class 1A Individual

Pre-bracket play scores (top 8 advance, top 8 and area bowlers) — 1. Sam Kress, Maquoketa, 758; 2. Jack Mastbergen, Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn, 751; 3. Tate Richart, Vinton-Shellsburg, 742; 4. Lucas Clark, Waterloo Columbus, 720; 5. Byron Christianson, Vinton-Shellsburg, 718; 6. Quinn Thomas, Monticello, 705; 7. Preston Crees, Estherville-Lincoln Central, 699; 8. Garrett Reynolds, Camanche, 693; 18. Britt Meyer, Grundy Center, 634.

Quarterfinals

Kress 246, Reynolds 190

Christianson 267, Clark 235

Thomas 200, Richart 198

Mastbergen 244, Crees 234

Semifinals

Kress 289, Christianson 205

Thomas 194, Mastbergen 172

Seventh Place Match

Reynolds 224, Crees 191

Fifth Place Match

Clark 243, Richart 228

Third Place Match

Christianson 216, Mastbergen 182

Championship Match

Kress 226, Thomas 168