St. Charles East bowlers set state record

To be sure there are tough challenges ahead.

Right now, though, St. Charles East's boys bowling team is rolling.

In a match Dec. 9 against DeKalb at the Saints' home lanes of Bowling Green in West Chicago, St. Charles East knocked down 3,493 pins to set the Illinois High School Association record for highest team score in a series.

In its last competition before holiday break St. Charles East again broke 3,400, a 3,402 series to claim the title of its own St. Charles East Boys & Girls Bowling Invitational.

On Tuesday in their first match after Christmas the Saints topped St. Charles North 3,325-3,095 - though on the junior varsity level the North Stars' Christian Erickson rolled a 299 by opening with 11 strikes then a 9 on the last ball.

"That's pretty exciting," said St. Charles East coach Steve Dessauer.

He has plenty to be excited about on his own squad, which has won 29 of 30 games against Upstate Eight Conference opponents, is 11-1 in dual matches and has first- and second-place finishes in invitationals. On Tuesday, for example, Saints seniors Aaron Mudlong and Dom Strauss bowled a 725 series and a 277 game, respectively.

Three regular-season matches remain, Saturday's Lake Zurich Invite, a conference tilt with Geneva at Bowling Green on Monday and the Upstate Eight position night on Jan. 14 at the Brunswick Zone in Glendale Heights.

St. Charles East's blend of youth and experience on the varsity level has several bowlers capable of the 700 series. It's a consistent group without a huge drop-off in scores from Nos. 1-8.

"We're stacked all the way through," said Dessauer, a 2000 Downers Grove North graduate who's been bowling since the age of 6 and as a senior averaged 210 on a club team since bowling was still two years away from IHSA sanctioning.

It all came together for St. Charles East Dec. 9 at Bowling Green.

Strauss rolled a 771, 19 pins from the program series record of 790 set by Alex Garza on Nov. 10, 2012, tied for 12th on IHSA records. (Strauss, incidentally, is among many boys 300 bowlers; he joined the club Jan. 10, 2012, against South Elgin.)

Mudlong followed Strauss with 758 pins, then sophomore brother Dean Mudlong (690), sophomore Kyle Mittendorf (646), junior Cole Cartee (447) and senior Rob Olson (181).

High-fiving is common in the sport following a strong frame, but Dessauer noted the boys weren't high-fiving in pursuit of a record. They didn't know they'd set one, though quite obviously they had mastered the Bowling Green oil pattern.

"It was a magical day that day," Dessauer said. "It felt right."

This is a group that feels right daily.

"We always have a team of five that could all shoot a 700, like this year," Dessauer said. "But it just seems this year they're all more consistent. They try to stay focused and level headed.

"They turn to each other, they help each other out. The talk about the line, they talk about the movement, they talk about what ball they should be using."

Coaches on the field, per se?

"Coaches on the lanes, if you will, for sure," Dessauer said.

Regardless of St. Charles East's penchant for big numbers and its strength as a program - "Even at the JV-2 level we walk into a bowling alley with 22 kids," Dessauer said - huge challenges await.

There's plenty of talent out there. In the season-opening Plainfield North Baker Kickoff St. Charles East finished seventh. A couple weeks later at another Plainfield North invite the Saints were 10th. On Dec. 13 at the bowling-hotbed Rockford Guilford Viking Invitational St. Charles East finished 12th, outpaced by eighth-place St. Charles North.

Recent sectional performances have bordered on heartbreaking. Last season St. Charles East averaged 199 pins as a team and placed second-to-last. In 2013 at the St. Patrick sectional the Saints finished only six pins away from advancement, trailing 2009 state champ Lake Park and St. Patrick.

St. Charles East winning its own invitational didn't escape Illinois Bowling.net, which reinstated the Saints to its rankings, at No. 15. That theoretically puts the team at the head of the class at the Westminster Christian regional on Jan. 17, but once into the Stevenson sectional on Jan. 24 prospective regional advancers include No. 1 Harlem, No. 2 Hononegah and No. 7 Stevenson.

The postseason demands six rounds of bowling magic, not three, but Strauss & Friends have proved they can catch lightning in a bottle.

"When we have it together," Dessauer said, "we definitely have it together."

Carat, cut, clarity, corner kicks

On Dec. 19, former Geneva, University of Illinois and Chicago Red Stars soccer player Jackie Santacaterina got engaged to former St. Charles East and Louisville soccer player Trae Manny. The prospective bride owns her own training company; the bridegroom works for the Eclipse Soccer Club. A wedding date has not been finalized.

Jackie's father, Mike, said Manny's father attended Geneva. Otherwise this marriage was off.

Just kidding on that last part.

Usual suspect

Speaking of soccer players from Geneva, on Thursday U.S. Youth Soccer announced the girls invited to participate in the Olympic Development Program's National Training Camp Jan. 22-27 in Sanford, Florida.

Among those girls born in 2000 selected was Geneva's Sydney Gratz, a midfielder on the Campton United club. Gratz earned similar selection in 2013 and 2014.

No hot dogs

From Moose International spokesman and ace Daily Herald operative Darryl Mellema comes this neat story ...

On Tuesday Mooseheart's girls basketball team traveled to play Schaumburg Christian. Before the game a man from the host school asked Lady Ramblers head coach Bryan Miller and assistant Jenise Collins questions about Mooseheart and its student body - the school's mission, where the students came from and such.

The man then went to run the game clock.

Impressed by the interplay between Ramblers players and coaches, by how all parties played and carried themselves even while losing 42-37, after the game the clock operator - he was the father of one of Schaumburg Christian's players - again approached the Mooseheart coaches.

This time his question was: How about dinner?

The man so appreciated Mooseheart's spirit he took the entire team out for pizza, and we're talking quality pizza.

"I'm sure he didn't enter the gym thinking he was going to buy dinner for 20 people," Mellema noted. "But you know the Ramblers loved the generosity."

Spartan in the crowd

St. Francis senior volleyball player Mary Boken made the Dec. 29 edition of Sports Illustrated's "Faces in the Crowd" section. The magazine noted the Clemson-bound outside hitter was the first girl volleyball player in Illinois to collect four state medals - third her freshman year, first the next three.

Sign 'em up

It's not exactly last call but it may will be from this outlet: Waubonsee Community College's cutoff for Athletic Hall of Fame nominations is Feb. 1.

Teams and individuals removed five years from competing at Waubonsee may be nominated, in a variety of categories and based on diverse criteria. Hall of Fame selections will be announced the Week of April 6 and honored at the school's end-of-year athletic banquet May 7.

Nomination forms are available at waubonsee.edu/athletics. Your best bet for info is by calling (630) 466-2524.

doberhelman@dailyherald.com

Follow Dave on Twitter @doberhelman1