Waubonsie Valley takes third at state

ROCKFORD — Andrew won the girls bowling team championship with 12,349 pins Saturday at Cherry Lanes Bowl, following the lead of the boys program which won two weeks ago in O’Fallon. It’s the first time that bowling championships have come from the same school in the same season.

Minooka finished second with 12,327 and Waubonsie Valley placed third (12,224).

The Warriors also won a third-place trophy four years ago.

“This shows a great accomplishment,” said Waubonsie Valley coach Marty Miller. “These girls have worked so hard and they’ve bought into that championships are won in the off-season. Third-place falls short of our goal, but certainly to come as far as we have is an achievement.”

Waubonsie Valley shot well from the start Saturday, opening with a 1,103 game on the way to 3,016 at the break. The Warriros followed up with 3 games over 1,000 for a 3,059 series.

Marianna Guerrieni (2,367) started out in the first game with 10 consecutive strikes and finished with a personal-best 287 game. That led to a series-best 640; Guerrieni tossed a 581 for the last three.

“I didn’t throw the shot as hard,” said Guerreni, who left the 1-2-4 on her 11th shot. “It hit the 3 and missed the headpin.

“During the game, it pumped up the energy for the rest of the team.”

The Warriors’ other bowlers were Charley Barbary (2,562, 15th), Rachael Felton (2,410), Kaylene Felton (2,349), Julia Bond (2,129) and Julie Schumacher (407).

Taylor Rigwood of Vernon Hills and Kelsey Schreiber of Antioch shared something valuable on the final day of girls bowling Saturday.

It was the first time both of them reached the finals of the state tournament at Cherry Bowl Lanes.

“I’ve never bowled in a competition like this before,” Rigwood said. “I did my best out here. I always wanted to be here since my freshman year. It was my goal and I finally got here. It was a great thing to accomplish.”

Rigwood climbed her way up the leaderboard and was high as eighth place before finishing in 13th with 2,592 pins. She missed receiving a medal by 15 pins, just behind Jordan Kasza of O’Fallon.

“It’s always good to place in a tournament,” Rigwood said. “I would have loved to get a medal. I did my best at state.”

Rigwood started out strong on Saturday morning with games of 245 and 255 before ending with a 168 for a 668 series. Then she shot games of 217, 263 and a 171 for a 651.

“When you think positively, I believe you can do well,” Rigwood said. “I knew where I was and wanted to place.

“Everyone around me was doing so well, shooting in the 200’s. It was really tough competition. It was crazy — I was bowling with Morgan Flaherty and I was trying to keep up with her pace. That was the goal.”

Lincoln-Way West’s Flaherty captured the individual title with a 12-game total of 2,764 (230 average).

Schreiber finished 26th and threw 4 of her 6 games on Saturday in the 200’s for a total of 2,502. That tied her with Katherine Sulaitis of St. Charles East.

“This was the highlight of my bowling career, to be able to do this my senior year,” Schreiber said. “I’ve never shot this many 200 games before, and to do it through the conference, sectionals and state is amazing.

“The competition this year was crazy and I definitely tried to feed off the energy. Unfortunately, it was without the support of my team and it was a little more stressful. I had to focus on my own game and it was a mental game.”

Schreiber tossed games of 235, 193 and 236 for a 664 series over the first three and finished with games of 177, 214 and 211.