Top-flight teams meet at Prospect
There is a tournament almost every weekend throughout the bowling season, and some of them are more competitive than others.
One of the two toughest is the Plainfield North tournament, and the other is the Prospect Invitational, which gets under way this Saturday at 9:30 a.m.
Among the favorites will be Mid-Suburban League co-leader Schaumburg, which has won three invitationals this winter -- at Stevenson, Plainfield North and Palatine -- and second at one other, Lockport.
The Saxons are also the defending champion at Prospect.
Also in contention are teams like Plainfield Central, which won the Rich East and Reavis tournaments. Rock Island won the United Township Invitational while Rolling Meadows finished first at the Streamwood invite.
Among the contenders who haven't won a tournament this season but have come close are Lockport, which took second at Rock Island; Minooka, runner-up at Rich East and new to the Prospect Invitational; Palatine, which came in second at Stevenson; Prospect, runner-up at the Palatine tournament; Rockford Guilford, second at Fremd; and Waubonsie Valley, which placed second at DeKalb.
"Teams we have to look at as favorites are Schaumburg, and Hoffman Estates is in there," said Prospect coach Greg Troyer.
Troyer names Hoffman's Natalie and Amanda Cortese, the Knights' Hannah Wrenn, Schaumburg's Samantha Kelly, Hersey's Shauna Pauly, Rockford Guilford sophomore Trista Flowers, who won the Fremd Tournament, and Rolling Meadows' Lauren Jacobs and Jillian Kola as favorites in the individual competition.
"Most coaches aim toward the season more like a season than a dual meet," said Troyer, who commented on what a tournament of this level can do to a team's confidence. "It depends. If it's a team like Schaumburg who's been strong all year, if you go into the meet strong and really struggle, it can do things to the kids to make them stronger. If you do good, that's OK. If you don't, it's OK because it's the last time you're going to be on these lanes."