Stein advances to state bowling

­ SHENANDOAH (Feb. 13) -- As a freshman bowler last year, Harlan Community’s Darren Stein did not roll a varsity game as the team finished a successful 8-3 campaign.
 One year later, HCHS once again finished 8-3 but this time Stein has played a major role in the success.
 On Tuesday, the sophomore became the Cyclone boys’ third individual state qualifier in the six-year history of the program, placing first at the Class 1A State Qualifying Tournament at Shenandoah’s Little Waite Lanes.
 Stein opened the meet with a personal-best game of 259, then added a 166 for his first-place score of 425. He will now compete at the 1A State Bowling Tournament Monday (Feb. 19) in Waterloo.
 From a team standpoint, the Cyclone boys and girls did not have as good of a meet on Tuesday, both missing a state qualifier berth by less than 80 total pins.
 Shenandoah won the boys team title with a score of 2,592 and received an automatic bid to state. HCHS placed second out of seven teams with a 2,533. Senior Keaton Jones, who was an individual state qualifier last year, rolled Harlan’s second-best total score with a 347 (159-188) and placed eighth overall. Senior Devin Wilson placed 12th with a 327 and senior Lucas Schmitz added a 317.
 The girls team champion and state qualifier was Tri-Center, which posted a total score of 2,195 to hold off both Shenandoah (2,163) and third-place HCHS (2,118). Individual Cyclone leaders were sophomore Jayden Gessert (324), senior Makenzie Jones (319) and senior Serena Kurtz (293).