Waubonsie Valley wins Prospect Invite
Fun. Invigorating. Exhausting.
These were the descriptions given by some of the competitors in Saturday’s Prospect New Year’s Invitational, where the bowlers rolled four morning games instead of the usual three as is the standard tournament format.
“It was really tiring,” said Vernon Hills senior Taylor Rigwood of bowling an extra game before the break. “I had to focus and bring all the energy I could into the fourth game.”
Rigwood was able to, excelling in Game 4 with a 232 en route to a 826 series and a 14th-place finish at the prestigious tournament at which 36 schools participated at the Brunswick Zone in Mount Prospect.
The rigourous tourney also didn’t faze Waubonsie Valley, which won the invite with a total pinfall of 6,118 — 141 pins better than second-place Minooka.
Waubonsie bowlers Marianna Guerrieri, Rachel Felton, Kaylene Felton, Charley Barbary, Julia Bond and Julie Schaumacher all made big contributions to the victory.
“This is an extremely hard-working group of girls,” said Waubonsie coach Marty Miller, who saw his team win its third invite of the season. “They put in a lot of work in the offseason and now all of that work is paying off.”
Sammi Hagerman of defending state champion Machesney Park Harlem was the invididual titleist, edging Antioch senior Kelsey Schreiber, who excelled with a second-place pinfall of 929.
The score was especially impressive considering the bowlers competed on the difficult Kegel Middle Road lane configuration.
“It was a bit of a marathon,” said Schreiber of the long early morning session, “but I actually was able to hit my stride after the third game. I didn’t find it (the Kegel lane pattern) any more challenging than usual.”
The individual awards were all decided during the morning session as the bowlers switched over to a team-oriented Baker format in the afternoon.
Conant and Hoffman Estates won Baker titles in the second session and Prospect’s Allison Walsh (fourth, 883) excelled on an individual basis.
Leyden was led to a fifth-place overall team finish by junior Danielle Trevino (844, ninth individually), and super sophomore Reba Hall, who rolled an 869 to win the sixth-place medal.
Hall gave a lot of credit to a stellar group of Eagles’ freshmen that includes Ashley Kriston.
“They’ve been making a huge contribution to our team,” said Hall, “and with time they’re only going to get better.”
Conant junior Courtney Slavich was another local star who carried over her conference success story to the tourney format.
Slavich, who opened post-holiday Mid-Suburban League conference play Thursday with a meet-high 245 game and a 612 series, knocked down 813 pins Saturday.
“I was pushing myself in the morning session,” said Slavich, who owns the 13th-best MSL average (180.17) so far this year. “I struggled in the middle of Game 4 but relaxed and finished strong.
“I was very excited about the way I was bowling early today but I didn’t want to get too excited and have it affect the rest of my day.”