Lake Zurich, Vernon Hills make state
It’s OK to look good together and bowl well, all at the same time.
The color blue united Lake Zurich and Vernon Hills on Saturday — enough so that both teams and coaches gathered together for a group picture on the lanes afterward.
Lake Zurich rolled away with the Stevenson sectional title Saturday with 6,423 pins and Vernon Hills (6,391) also qualified for state at Lakeside Lanes in Mundelein.
Both teams will go after a state championship next weekend at St. Clair Lanes in O’Fallon. The state tournament begins on Friday morning and rolls through Saturday.
“When we’ve bowled well this is what we’ve done,” Lake Zurich coach Peter Kupfer said. “We haven’t had all five kids bowl well at the same time. That’s what has been missing sometimes. It’s not totally unexpected; you just never know.”
The Bears will be making their sixth trip downstate in 10 years in an attempt to improve upon last season’s third-place finish.
Lake Zurich rolled 3,233 over the first three games with 1,028, 1,122 and 1,083. The Bears followed up with games of 1,129, 1,048 and 1,013 for a 3,190 over the last three.
Mike Schmitt led the Bears and won top individual honors by knocking down 1,469 pins. Schmitt opened with games of 239, 241 and 257, then had the highest game of the day — 279 — to go with 247 and 206.
“The goal was to get the team in and not think of myself so much,” said Schmitt, who also won the Cougar Classic and last week’s Lake Zurich Invite. “For me it goes hand in hand. For some people, they have one-track minds thinking about themselves or the team. Fortunately, I’ve been successful with what the team has been doing so well.”
The other Lake Zurich scorers were Quinn Nelson (1,260), Max Galarce (1,320), Tony Giannecchini (1,270), Chris Orabutt (576), Ben Madura (371) and Mike Wormley (157).
Vernon Hills will be making its seventh consecutive trip to state. So far, a championship has proved elusive in Vernon Hills’ team sports history.
“It’s deja vu,” said Vernon Hills coach Ron Long, whose team recently won the Northern Illinois Boys Bowling Conference tournament, as well as the Lake Zurich Invite. “It’s still a goal for us to win it. We just had to get down there first. We did what we had to do.”
The Cougars led for the first four games before the Bears took over the lead in Game 5.
Vernon Hills came out firing with games of 1,133, 1,018 and 1,132 for a morning set of 3,283 and finished with games of 1,090, 968 and 1,050.
Eric Swanson led the Cougars with a 1,389 series over the 6 games. Swanson also rolled a high game of 257. Other Cougars scorers were Jeremy Steininger and Sam Fink each with 1,262, David Goldberg (1,238), Alex Winter (1,028) and Parish Ashford (212).
Deerfield’s Zach Cole will be making his third trip to state in four years by qualifying as an individual. He rolled a 1,332 series.
Jake Thompson became the first Libertyville boys bowler to qualify for state, earning the other individual spot by rolling a 1,291 series.
Thompson started the day with a 247 game and a 653 series in the morning before following up with a 638.
“It’s like a dream come true, and it’s everything that I’ve worked for,” Thompson said. “I’ve been waiting for this day all season. It’s all hard work that has paid off.”