Girls bowling: Scouting the Mid-Suburban League

In Mid-Suburban League East girls bowling this season, Buffalo Grove has only one senior (Maddie Schanke), but will return three players with varsity experience from last year.

"We hope to be competitive throughout our season," said BG coach Chris Vangrondelle. "We look to gain experience and hone our skills and be more consistent as the year rolls on."

Standouts for the Bison will include Rebecca Howard, Carlie Michalak, Olivia Przybylska, Jessica Sears, Mia Shiakallis, Annie Wenzel, Kelly Allaire, Quinn Donahue, Sara Clay, Ally Howard and Carly Young.

Elk Grove coach Robert Ray says it will be a rebuilding year for his Grenadiers.

"We lost our top three bowlers (from last year)," said Ray, "two of which were sectional qualifiers. But we do return two starters in juniors Lillie Zahn and Anna Mayschak, in addition to seniors Kaylee Hatfield and Melena Herrera. Our goals will be to teach the game, make it fun, and most importantly do our best to end strong."

Sophomore Caitlyn Marrs will also compete for the Grens.

Hersey will be a senior-led group, paced by Claire Bauerle, Cate Gudaitis, Susan Ferris, Susan Schmidt and Jung La.

"We have depth to the roster," said Huskies first-year coach Mark Gunther. "We feature 12 bowlers with averages that are separated by only 10 pins. We're excited to compete and make some noise in the final conference standings.".

Prospect's roster will include seniors Marie Shurson and Nina Tierney, junior Lizzy Dini, and sophomores Marissa Robinson, Lindsey Meyer, and Simona Beltowski. "What we're working on this year is building off the foundation we laid out last year," said Knights coach Ashley Ruszczak, "by increasing our consistency."

Rolling Meadows was the East division champ a season ago, but graduated all five starters. Now back for the new campaign are Mustangs Micaela Johnson, Rylan Brytek, Jay Skuttles, Stephanie Montisenos, Fatima Rodriguez and Savannah Peters. "We'll be striving to come together as a team," said RM coach Karen Ellingsworth. "We look to improve as the season progresses."

Wheeling's new coach, Catherine Zaworski, says that she is "getting to know my current team." On the roll call for the Wildcats this year will be bowlers Lesley Aguilar, Michelle Simon, Nicole Golden, Jennifer Morales, Dulce Avila and Elena Falkiner. "I have a young team," said Zaworski, "with a lot of kids bowling on varsity for the first time."

The Mid-Suburban West outlook begins with Barrington, which enjoyed a 9-4 regular season last year. "We have all of our varsity bowlers back and four seniors," says Fillies coach Dan Giesey. "The girls have worked hard and we've added improved depth."

Taking to the lanes this year for Barrington will be Jenica Baron, Alyssa Loomis, Brianna Salcedo, Autumn Fox, April Adler and Grace Hauk.

Conant's squad will include Cassie Hyland, Elizabeth White, Jemma Skweres, Sophie Hyland, Jessica Meister and Kaylee Murphy.

"This team has a lot of potential," said Cougars coach Jennifer Mikrut. "They're a great group of girls who have a lot of team chemistry and work well together."

Fremd will be competitive this season, says Vikings coach Ruben Hinojosa, paced by Leia Ladios, who Hinojosa said is "becoming the leader of this team. Her game is really coming around." Also competing for Fremd will be Maria Vazquez, Sahar Samadi, Jenny Kang, Rachel Yoo and Megan Keith.

Hoffman Estates was second at state last year, and the Hawks will return senior bowlers Emilie St. Clair and Colleen Golliher.

"Our outlook is to be competitive all year," said Hoffman coach Dan Pfligler, whose roster will also include Mykah Harper, Shatora Sims, Tori Cinquepalmi and Jessica Donovan. "We hope to finish in the top three of our conference."

Palatine will count on four juniors - Natalia Jezak, Evelyn Torres, Gabby Paneral and Maya Migacz - as well as a talented pair of freshmen, Tarrah Phillips and Payton Prospal.

"Most of our kids have one year of varsity experience from last year, and that will help them," said Pirates coach John Burke. "They're great kids, and we hope to be as competitive as we can be and maybe surprise some people along the way."

Schaumburg is one of four local teams that has a new coach - John Slavich - who was a coach at Fremd the last four years.

"I'm hoping to bring all my experience to this team and help them reach their goals," said Slavich, whose lineup will include seniors Gina Lenoci and Taylor Davis, sophomores Lilly Meck and Haylie Frick, and senior standout Kylie Frick, who Slavich says "led all three-year end tournaments - conference sectionals and regionals - which might not have ever been done before."