Dedicated. This word describes Jacob Sires, a junior at Xavier High School who is a part of both the Varsity show choir, Xhilaration, and bowling. Sires’ passion for show choir began with his dad, who was a part of Jefferson High School’s best show choir. At Benton’s show choir competition, “A Touch of Class,” on February 12, judges chose a best male soloist based off of division and Sires was the recipient. Sires said that when he found out that they would be choosing by division he knew he had a better chance than normal but was still surprised at his selection. In order for Sires to receive a solo, he had to audition against others who are a part of show choir. “I’ve been lucky enough to have one every year I’ve been in show choir, with a lot of my teammates also auditioning for the same solos,” Sires said. There is a lot of hard work and time put into show choir in order to improve. “The hardest part is definitely practicing. So much work is necessary than what most people realize, and it takes a long time to get it down” Sires said. Although show choir is hard work, Sires loves the competition of show choir and the feeling of the hard work paying off. Sires said that the practice season is hard before the competitions but that in the end it is all worth it. Not only did Sires’ win best male soloist in show choir but he qualified for individual state bowling on February 15. In order to qualify for individual state bowling, you must place top eight individually over a three game series. “It takes practice for sure. Thankfully I’ve been gifted with a fair amount of natural talent, but it takes a whole lot more technique than people realize,” Sires said. Sires’ great uncle is in the Iowa Bowling Hall of Fame and his grandpa and dad were into bowling so Sires carried on the torch. The bowling team practices three hours a week as a team and Xhilaration practices three times a week for a total of five hours. However, Sires takes time out of his personal schedule to go out and practice his bowling skills, as well as his choreography. Sires said that it is not too difficult to balance the two of them because they fit into his schedule nicely but he mentioned that he has good time management and would make it work either way. Overall, Sires was happy to qualify for state, saying that he had high expectations for himself going into this season and feeling that he accomplished them. “I like how competitive it is. People don’t realize how competitive of a sport bowling is until they’re in it. The hardest part is consistency. Bowling is a game of consistency and trying to balance so many things at once every time you throw the ball,” Sires said. State bowling wrapped up on February 23 and Xhilaration’s last performance was on March 10 at 6:00 and 7:30 pm.