Trusky, Antioch repeat as North Suburban champions
The Antioch girls bowling team has been knocking down pins in bunches all season.
The Sequoits' impressive roll continued Friday when they captured the North Suburban Conference championship for the second straight year, roaring to the title at Lakes Bowl in Round Lake.
The Sequoits' Kaitlyn Trusky also repeated as individual NSC champion.
The Sequoits took top honors with a team total of 5,967 over the six games. Vernon Hills finished second (5,502) followed by Zion-Benton (5,338) in the 12-team field.
In fourth was Grant (5,097), followed by Warren (4,988) fifth and Libertyville (4,949) sixth. Rounding out the team scores were Wauconda (4,786) in seventh, Lake Zurich (4,774) eighth, Lakes (4,650) ninth, Round Lake (4,467) in 10th, Stevenson (4,212) in 11th and North Chicago (3,760) in 12th.
Antioch started out slowly with an 882 game, but the Sequoits quickly woke up with games of 957 and 985 - a pinfall of 2,824 for the first three games.
"We wanted to come out here and set a tone and we really didn't do it and struggled," said Sequoits coach Jeff Childress.
"That may have been the best thing for us. It let me light a fire and get serious with them. They got loose and got rolling. I thought, if we bowl to our potential there's not another team here that could touch us. Stop looking around to the team next to us or a few lanes down. Start bowling against yourselves - and once they did that, they started rolling."
In the afternoon block, the Sequoits tossed games of 1,045, 983 and 1,115 for a season-best, three-game total of 3,143.
"All year long we had a goal of breaking 3,000," Childress said. "We still don't, because we put up 3,100. I think my girls had invested a lot of time last summer. I think that's a big difference up and down the roster. They all dedicated themselves. We want to be competitive this year going to state and want to be fighting for it."
Trusky led off with a 171, then she rolled five straight games over 200 including 246 and 247 for a tournament-high 1,332 series.
"I knew I had to pick up my game," Trusky said. "I didn't want that game to bother me. Just wanted to tell myself I can do better. I was trying to keep focused. I wanted to win it this year, but I never thought it would happen."
Sequoits senior Alyssa Alvarez, who won the individual title as a sophomore two years ago, nearly caught Trusky. Alvarez fired a 287 in her final game and finished 20 pins behind with 1,312.
"I was hoping to get the (300), but I was taking it one shot at time," said Alvarez, who recorded the first 10 strikes before leaving a 7-count on her 11th shot. "I just got the last one out a little bit too far and it was light."
Other Sequoits' scores included Samantha Rolph (1,214), Kelsey Schreiber (885, five games), Rachel Gebauer (727, four games) and Katy Bain (497, three games).
Grant's Brie Brugioni finished third individually (1,252), followed by last year's state champion Nicole Sanhamel (1,215) of Vernon Hills, with Rolph a pin behind.
"I just decided to go for it," said Sanhamel, who rolled a 252 her final game. "Last year, I finished 18th in conference and had a good finish. This year I had better improvement. I really don't bowl at this house all that often."
Rounding out the top 10 individual finishers were Zion-Benton's Brittany Capp (sixth with 1,193), Vernon Hills' Randi Stone (1,186), Libertyville's Jackie Funk (1,123), Vernon Hills' Taylor Rigwood (1,105) and Warren's Maria Strauss (1,104).
Vernon Hills also received a 1,094 series from Alyssa Nugent.
Leading Wauconda were Kristine Micheletti (1,038) and Rebecca Ledenbach (1,014). Setting the pace for Lakes was Devin Ksioszk, who shot 1,040; Libertyville was led by Laura Polakowski (1,020); Lake Zurich's Amie Fischer had 1,018; Round Lakes' Samantha Hughes had 991; and Stevenson's Ashley Wittert shot 942.