Girls bowling: South Elgin a solid 3rd at Prospect
South Elgin junior bowler Breanne Augustine really appreciates the support of her teammates.
"They're awesome," said the junior. "We support each other, and this is like a second family to me."
Saturday afternoon at the Prospect New Year's Invitational, Augustine and her family excelled with a third-place finish with a 6-game total of 5,920.
Lockport won the invite while Minooka finished second.
"The kids were awesome today," said Storm coach Mike Anzalone. "They worked well together, they supported each other, and did really well.
"Breanna is very consistent and very passionate about the game. She loves doing what she does, she loves her teammates and has a great time."
Rebecca Howard of Buffalo Grove also excelled at the invite, posting an 1,199 pinfall to finish 13th overall.
"I really tried to work hard in the offseason," said Howard, a senior, "to get to where I am at this point."
"She's been top two in every tournament she's bowled in this year," said BG coach Chris VanGrondelle. "Rebecca has bowled really solid. She definitely wants to bowl in college and she has the ability.
"It's way more for her that just being a bowler. She's a coach to the other kids and she's an incredible leader."
It's the 31st year of the well-run Prospect New Year's tourney and Knights' coach Ashley Ruszczak says that she has a good mix of teams in the invitational.
"It's a huge tournament for us," said Ruszczak. "Our girls work really, really hard and it's fun to see the girls put in the hard work and perform. We've got some of the more competitive teams (in the state) and we've also got some middle of the pack teams as well and it gives everyone a chance to shine."
After the first 3 games were in the books, the teams were seeded into groups for the afternoon session, and Elk Grove won the Knights Division championship, led by senior Lillie Zahn, while Conant (2,543) took first in the Queens Division.
Karlea Cesario of South Elgin was eighth overall in the meet with a 1,252; Haylie Frick of Schaumburg shot an 1,184 to place 14th, while Conant's Jemma Skweres finished at 1,173, good for 17th individually.
"She's been phenomenal," said Cougars coach Jennifer Mikrut of Skweres. "She leads our team, she's in the top six in the (MSL) conference, she's a leader and works so hard on her game. Just a great attitude, very positive and a great teammate."
"This year is different from the last two years," said Skweres. "Nice to be an upperclassmen, and I came out today knowing I had my team behind me. We want to go to state as team, stay connected and stay bonded."