The Waterloo High School boys bowling squad completed its best season in program history this past weekend at St. Clair Bowl, placing fourth overall at the IHSA state tournament. 

In fact, Waterloo’s overall team pin count was just six behind third place Mt. Vernon. 

The Bulldogs, who qualified for state as a team by placing first at the Mt. Vernon Sectional on Jan. 23, were led at state by junior Matthew Eller’s sixth place showing. His average at state was 221.6 per game.

He was followed by Cameron Shufelt in 17th place (215 average), Sam Beck in 33rd place (208 average), Chase Zimmerman (204 average through six games), Sam Breitwiser (202 average through nine games), and Alex Harper (190 average through nine games).

Waterloo sat in sixth place after Friday’s round, which was good enough to advance to Saturday’s competition. 

“This season was one to remember for a long time,” Waterloo head coach Matt Beck said. “Extremely proud of the dedication the boys have shown in and out of season to get this far. There were many record book entries as a team and individually this year, capped off with a historical finish.”

At the Mt. Vernon Sectional, Eller led the Bulldogs with a 220.8 per game average over six games. Harper, a senior, averaged 218.2 per game – including the top single game score for Waterloo with a 268.

In addition to going 8-1-1 in match play this season, Waterloo won the Kegler Tournament in Columbia, and placed second in both the ShowMO Tournament and Panther Challenge. 

The Bulldogs got off to a 5-0 start to their season with victories over Triad, Highland, Mascoutah, Civic Memorial and Jerseyville.

“What a season,” Shufelt said of his team’s 2025-26 campaign. “Looking back on this season, you could start to tell we had something special – we could all feel it.”

Shufelt said that one year ago, he started “grinding his heart out” into the sport.

“I put more effort into this than anything I have ever in my life,” Shufelt said. “This was an insane year, and I’m glad I did it with this team.”

Shufelt added that he will never forget the heart and the passion shown by every member of this team.

“It really was a ‘right moment at the right time’ kind of thing, everyone wanted it, and they executed,” he said. 

But the high school bowling season is not over just yet. 

The Girls regional tournament kicks off this Saturday at West Park Bowl in Columbia, featuring teams from Waterloo, Columbia, Gibault and Dupo along with several area schools.