Antioch surges to seventh in state
ROCKFORD — It was all heart, all day long.
The Antioch girls bowling team made a great run in the IHSA girls state bowling tournament on the final day of competition at Cherry Bowl.
The Sequoits nearly sat on the bubble Friday, but after advancing in 11th place, they rebounded quickly Saturday — climbing all the way up to the sixth spot before ending seventh.
“What a great day we had,” said Sequoits coach Jeff Childress. “We had a four-place move and it was a good move. the Girls came out with a lot of heart. They came out and supported each other.
“We had a lot of adversity this year as a team and a family. Facing it you pull together or you fall apart. The girls decided to support each other and pulled through.”
Antioch opened Saturday morning with a 903, but then the Sequoits rolled some of their best games of the year with 1,086 and 1,103 for a 3,092.
In the final round in the afternoon, the Sequoits rolled games of 893, 1,062 and 900 for 2,855 — and a 12-game total of 11,603.
Allyson Mathias led the Sequoits with a 2,440 and had the high team game of 248 on Saturday.
“This day was intense and we never gave up,” sid Mathias, who finished 27th individually. “We really wanted to move up more and tried our hardest out there.
“Our team has been through everything. We bowled (practiced and home meets) at Bertrand Lane in Waukegan (half the season). We’ve been through more than any team here and we were close to reaching the top.”
Other Antioch scorers included Symantha Rolph 2,404 (36th); Stevie Lindberg 2,306; Kelsey Schreiber 2,070 (11 games); Katy Bain 2,032 (11 games), Sarah Gagnon 177 (one game) and Samantha Dvorak 174 (one game).
“This group connected very well,” said Schreiber, whose Sequoits were fourth in the state last season. “We calculated the scores (break) and knew it wasn’t that big of a margin of trying to reach a trophy.
“Losing a couple of bowlers from last year, we did very well and seventh place is very respectable.”
Randi Stone of Vernon Hills finished 40th place with a 2,390 total. On Saturday, Stone shot a 606 with a 228 high game in the morning and a 541 in the afternoon.
Machesney Park Harlem won its fifth state girls bowling title and first since 2005 with a state record 12,533, Plainfield Central finished second with 12,185 and Rockford Jefferson was third with 12,020. .
Individually, Natalie Goodman of O’Fallon, who rolled a 300 game in the morning, fired a state-record 799 series Saturday morning and followed with a 682 for a 12-game state record of 2,867 — a 238.9 average.
Schaumburg’s Jodi Gawlik was the runner-up for the second straight year with a 2,758.