Boys bowling: Warren's Lauer, Lake Zurich claim regional titles
Daniel Lauer of Warren rolled a 1,387 over six games and picked up top honors while the Blue Devils posted a team total of 5,927 and advanced to next weekend's sectional round out the Warren regional Saturday at Bertrand Lanes in Waukegan.
Lake Zurich won the regional championship throwing a 5,987. Libertyville (5,925) and Vernon Hills (5,923) were the other two schools that are moving on to the Rockford Jefferson sectional at Don Carter Lanes.
The others that qualified outside of the top four teams were Stevenson's Joey Gluck (1,243), Ben Ries (1,190) and Nicolas Sternes (1,178), Diego Cortez of Waukegan (1,336), Nick Bresen from Grant (1,229), Grayslake North's Christian Kostner (1,211), Wauconda's Drew Mason (1,180), Owen Jones of Mundelein (1,173), Lakes' Phillip Heuser (1,156) and Miles Pletcher of Grayslake Central (1,155).
Lauer started the day rolling a 741 series with games of 257, 242 and 242. Then the senior finished with 212, 182 and a 252 for a 646 set in the afternoon becoming the top bowler.
"It's a great honor to bowl that well with the great competition," Lauer said. "To be able to bowl that with the rest of the team helped me bowl better. It really is a great feeling with all the hard work in practices, meets and tournaments. We just balanced well off each other on the team."
Warren is in its third year of bowling and will be making its first appearance in the sectional. The Blue Devils managed to break the 1,000 mark in three of the six games with two of them being 1,018 and the other 1,022.
"The kids did a great job and bowled really well," Warren coach Jim Voutiritsas said. "I thought they came through and stayed in the moment. We had a chance to practice there (Bertrand Lanes), bowled there, we were ready for it and adjusted well for it."
The other Blue Devils bowlers were Bradley Wilinski (1,235), Ethan Kailin (1,175), Adrian Arenas (1,099) and Connor Bora (1,031).
After winning the North Suburban Conference title, Lake Zurich kept the ball on track in taking the regional crown as it had three games over the 1,000 mark with its best game of 1,077. The Bears also had games of 1,064 and 1,003.
Trevor Madura led the Bears with a 1,322, which was the third best score of the day. His two highest games were 248 and 239. The other Lake Zurich scorers were Billy Schroeder (1,240), Brett Schnur (1,190), Jason Czabaj (1,162), Jason Morrison (478), Joey Kovanda (394) and Alex Koures (177).
Libertyville will be making its second straight sectional appearance and showed off a strong fourth game of the day with an impressive 1,080 and followed it up with a 1,038.
"I couldn't be more excited for the team," Libertyville coach Robert Sweno said. "The kids stayed positive and made adjustments all day. The fourth game was our biggest. It helped our boys to stay more relaxed in the last couple of games."
Alex Nelson led the Wildcats with a 1,307 that included a high game of 276. Others included Henry Koltermen (1,302), Nick Formento (1,195), Devon Hamilton (1,096), Bryce Pinsel (679) and Vaughn Kator (346).
Vernon Hills won the Central Suburban League title and made its return back to the sectional. Alex Kouvelas led the Cougars with 1,277. Others were Logan Coty (1,231), Brandon Cervantes (1,151), Ben Kushnir (807), Nicolas Schwind (758), Derek Jarrell (380) and Jacob Gates (319).