Earlier this year it was announced that there will be a new individual event for high school bowling in Iowa. Details of the new format for team and individual events was released at our annual meeting. There will be further details released with updated rules at the beginning of the season, but I wanted to make sure everyone had a chance to see what it coming…

State Qualifying Meets (These will no longer be referred to as Regionals or Sub-State): The state qualifying meets will remain a one day event with both team and individual qualifying happening on the same day.

Team Qualifying Meets: Teams will bowl 15 baker games. Class 3A and 2A state qualifying meets will have four sites with eight teams at each site, with the top two teams at each site qualifying for the State Team Tournament. Class 1A would have eight sites with 4-5 teams at each site, the champion at each site will qualify for the state team meet.

Individual State Qualifying: Individuals at the state qualifying meet will bowl three games. The top eight scores from each Class 3A/2A site would qualify for the state individual tournament for a total of 32 individual qualifiers. The top four bowlers from the eight 1A state qualifying meets would qualify for the State Tournament, also comprising 32 individual qualifiers.

The state meets would break down as follows:

State Team Tournament: The eight teams will bowl 15 baker games. The total pins after 15 games will determine bracketing (1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6, 4 vs. 5). Teams will then play a best three of five baker games to advance to the semifinals and finals.

Individual Tournament: All 32 qualifiers will bowl three individual games. The top eight finishers will then be bracketed (1 vs. 8, 2 vs. 7, 3 vs. 6, 4 vs. 5) and bowl one game. The winners will advance to the semifinals and finals, where the champion will be crowned.