Girls bowling/Scouting Fox Valley sectionals
The Jacobs girls bowling team heads into Saturday’s Lake Park sectional at Brunswick Zone in Roselle with about as much momentum under its collective belt as humanly possible.
Jacobs, which finished 17th at state last year, not only won the Fox Valley Conference tournament last week, but did so by winning all six games, which means it beat the other 6 league teams in every game.
That was on top of the Golden Eagles going undefeated during the conference regular season — also winning every game it bowled against their FVC counterparts. It was Jacobs’ second FVC title in a row. The Golden Eagles are 36-0 in conference games over the last 2 seasons and have won all 108 standings points possible in league play during that time frame (2 points for a game won and 3 points for a series win).
Jacobs, which returns virtually its entire unit from a year ago, will now look to take the next step in Roselle where the top 2 teams and the top 2 individuals not on qualifying teams will advance to next weekend’s state girls bowling finals at Cherry Bowl in Rockford. Six at-large state bids will also be available through a survey of all sectionals in the state.
The Golden Eagles are paced by senior Jenn Rood, who won the FVC individual title with a 1,358 series. She also set a program record with a 718 three-game series at the tournament. Other key bowlers for Jacobs include seniors Gianna Scarpelli and Becca Payne, along with juniors Ashley Rood and Sarah Siska. Payne reached the state finals second round last year and finished in 67th place overall.
“The girls are a little bit more mature,” Jacobs coach Jim Rood said. “They are used to each other a little bit more and they don’t get rattled as easy. We’re going to try and win the sectional, and if not, come in second and return to state.”
Jacobs will have competition from DeKalb for the top spot. Jacobs bowled in several invites that also featured DeKalb. Jacobs finished 55 pins behind the sectional-champion Barbs at last year’s Sycamore sectional, but advanced to state by finishing second.
“DeKalb is definitely a team to watch,” Rood said.
Fellow FVC member Dundee-Crown went 7-4 during the regular season and coach Dave Mensching was impressed with the team’s improvement as the slate wore on.
“We’ve had people raise their averages 20 pins,” he said. “It’s been a really good year for us.”
Senior Marie Braun was seventh at the FVC meet and earned all-conference honors (the first D-C bowler to earn that accolade). She also won the Grant Bulldog invitational. Senior Kayla Weston and junior Makiah Scott have also been key cogs for the Chargers.
Huntley finished fourth in the FVC and is led by sophomore Savana O’Neill, who earned all-conference honors thanks to a sixth-place showing. Sophomore Amy Antczak was 11th.
“We’ve made some great strides the last couple of years with this program,” Huntley coach Sandra Spear said. “This is the best year we’ve had, by far. We’ve improved immensely. I’m very proud of the girls.”
All five District U-46 schools will be in the sectional field. Larkin is led by junior Kendra Brandenberg, along with sophomore Becky Flores and senior Katelyn Stroch.
“It’s a very interesting sectional,” said 13th-year Larkin coach Rich Heisel, the dean of area bowling coaches. “If our girls are on, they could do very well. It all depends on if they bowl to their capabilities.”
Elgin is paced by sophomore Katelyn Tinder and junior Meghan Bowman. Tinder leads the Maroons in average.
“We’ve been up and down some days,” Elgin coach Andy LaScala said. “Some days we have girls that bowl in the 200s. Hopefully this is one of the days where we have the 200s.”
Bartlett, South Elgin and Streamwood are also in the field.
Bartlett is led by all-Upstate Eight Conference junior Erin Boothe, who averages 179. Boothe was an all-conference pick as a sophomore as well. Sophomore Kellie Ayres (163 average) and senior Valerie Simek (162 average) have also bowled well for the Hawks this year. Bartlett won the Leyden invitational this year.
“We hope to bring our best games to sectionals so we can show everyone that Bartlett can go to state this year,” Hawks coach Tracy King said.
St. Edward has a group that features 2 seniors, 2 juniors and a pair of freshmen. One of those ninth-graders is Monica Ramirez, who bowled a 203 earlier in the year. Ramirez had never bowled before this season.
“Monica has a lot of potential,” St. Edward coach Dawn Nowosielski said.
Westminster Christian is in its first season as a girls bowling program. Coach John Wedell’s squad is led by freshman Lauren Mason and senior Sarah Glasshagel.
“Both girls have bowled better as of late,” Wedell said.