Lake Park bowlers on pins, no needles, at state
Trailing Lockport by 53 pins after Day One at the boys state championship, it was a deficit Lake Park gobbled up like so much bowling alley pizza.
Sophomore Adam Keith has seen worse odds, as we reported Sept. 11. Keith emerged from a summertime Pepsi Youth tournament as the 40th of 40 qualifiers. He eventually won a national title.
The challenge ahead of the Lancers Jan. 31 in O'Fallon was less daunting.
"Toward the beginning of the first day it was really tense because it was close up to the fifth game," said Adam, whose twin brother, Ryan, joined teammates Grant Jensen, Matt Hammesfahr and Tyler Sadowski as scoring bowlers for the eventual state champions. "Then we had a pretty good lead so we were able to relax more."
Lake Park, which improved on its 2004 runner-up finish, was in sixth after the first game, way early since there are 12 games spread over two days. Coach Greg Edwards' Lancers took the lead in Game 9 and outdistanced Lockport by 234 pins.
"Ryan did incredible the second day," Adam Keith said. "He averaged 244, had the high six-game series in the whole tournament (1,468 pins) in Day Two."
"It was just very exciting," Ryan Keith said. "I bowled a lot better the second day than the first day. After the first day I was in 52nd place. Then I moved up to fifth."
Left-handers Adam and Ryan placed a respective fourth and fifth individually, just 4 pins apart. Jensen finished 20th, Sadowski 24th and Hammesfahr, the sole senior, 35th.
Hinsdale South senior Matt Peters placed 13th overall while Fenton freshman Alex Schwarz has three more years to improve on his 61st-place finish.
Individual state titles and possible college careers remain for the Keith twins, so they're not resting on their laurels. They'll compete in an Illinois State Bowling Club tournament on Feb. 22 in Mt. Prospect.
"We're still practicing every single day and bowling as many tournaments outside of season as we can," Adam Keith said.
The girls' turn
The girls state bowling tournament is this Friday and Saturday in Rockford.
Two-time state champ Lake Park, led by Tiffany Novy and Lisa Beckmann, is in the team competition as is fellow Upstate Eight power Waubonsie Valley.
Individual bowlers include Addison Trail's Kristina Palermo and Fenton's Nadine Blecke.
A proud tradition
Wheaton Warrenville South's Pat Dansdill has been named the 2008 winner of the Red Grange Award, presented annually to the District 200 prep footballer based on athletics, sportsmanship and academics.
Among a slew of awards, the Tigers' middle linebacker earned Daily Herald All-Area notice and DuPage Valley Conference defensive player of the year. Dansdill made a team-high 106 tackles and, in a telling testimony to his ability and character, won WW South's prestigious Don S. Garner Award for football.
Dansdill will be honored at a presentation near Grange's June 13 birthday.
For those keeping score at home that makes it six straight Grange awards for WW South. Including their stay at Wheaton Central, the Tigers hold a 20-12 advantage over Wheaton North since the first award was presented in 1974 to Wheaton North's Keith Burlingame.
Killer matchup
Loyola of Chicago will host UCLA in a men's volleyball match for the first time in history at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Gentile Center in Chicago. Overall, UCLA holds a 3-0 lead over the Ramblers.
Two-time Daily Herald All-Area player Nick Lamoureux, a senior out of Wheaton Warrenville South, heads several local players suiting up for 5-1 Loyola. Lamoureux is third in kills and leads Loyola in blocks and is in Loyola's career top 10 for service aces.
Junior middle blocker Michael Morice, from Waubonsie Valley, is part of the Ramblers' rotation. Mario Jez (Glenbard East), Derek Jensen (West Chicago) and Matt Baleiko (Waubonsie Valley) have also gotten PT.
They've got a grueling stretch through Feb. 17, playing top-15 teams UCLA, Lewis University and No. 1 Penn State.
doberhelman@dailyherald.com