BELLEVILLE – Of the area teams and individuals taking part in Saturday's IHSA Belleville East girls bowling sectional tournament at Bel-Air Bowl, Collinsville had the only bowlers who are advancing to next weekend's IHSA Girls Bowling Championship at Cherry Bowl in Rockford.
The Kahoks took the final spot for teams by a mere seven pins over the host Lancers, 5,776 to 5,769; the top four teams and top five individuals from non-qualifying teams advanced to the state tournament. Herrin won the team championship with a pinfall of 6,341, with O'Fallon second at 5,961, Salem third at 5,848 and the Kahoks; Salem's Lauren Hays, with a total of 1,442, took the individual championship, with Harrisburg's Elizabeth Davis (1,299), Waterloo's Makensey Umschied (1,289) and Kristen Goersch (1,288), Dupo's Courtney Argus (1,279) and Cahokia's Mary Banks (1,274) all reaching the state tournament as individuals.
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Triad finished ninth at 5,575 pins, Jersey 11th at 5,318 and Alton 12th at 5,150; the Knights will be sending freshman Cherioa Stokes to the state tournament in the wheelchair division with a four-game total of 253. The rest of the field included the host Lancers, Cahokia (5,768), Belleville West (5,735), Harrisburg (5,680), the Knights, Centralia (5,365), the Panthers and Redbirds.
“It was one of those days where there's times you get breaks and times you don't,” said Kahok coach Sean Hay. “Some of the times we threw good shots and didn't get breaks and times we threw bad shots; we put ourselves into a position to where we were wondering if we were going to make it; it all worked out.
“At the end of the day, the girls did what they needed to do – just barely – but they did what they needed to do.”
Collinsville had a difficult pair of lanes during the morning session. “We hit a tough pair in the morning where we really did not bowl well,” Hay said. “After we bowled a (1,040) to start, we came back with a (903) and that sets a tone for the day, so we're trying to climb.
“We started off the second half and we have a game where every kid has one open (frame) yet we couldn't string strikes; we shot a (940) when it should have been easily an 1,100 game. The girls were fighting the shot a little bit, but we were able to get the ball in the pocket. They kept their heads up all the time; they kept grinding.”
“Our girls bowled great,” said Jersey coach Chris Skinner. “We knew going in it was going to be a challenge; you've got Herrin, you've got Collinsville, you've got Cahokia. This is a loaded sectional; they're going to do well at state. Emily Stemmler averaged 192 for the day; that's a good day for her. Sam Ayers came on and made an adjustment and she bowled really well – all the girls did. They all bowled above their averages for the day.
“We had a couple of really good games and we had a couple of games where we struggled, but I was really proud of their effort and how they hung together. We knew coming in we were a long shot, but we wanted to improve on what we've done all season, and we did that. I'm really proud of all the girls, especially our five seniors – we're going to miss them next year; they went out and bowled really well today.”
“Being only a second-year coach, we still have a lot of kinks to work out, but the girls bowled well,” said Knight coach Francesca Kolesa. “I'm proud of them; they did their best. We didn't quite make it there, but I'm not worried.”
Triad did have a shot to send a bowler to the state tournament, but Lizzie Powell rolled a 132 fifth game to fall out of contention (en route to a six-game total of 1,151 on the day). “She got a little tired,” Kolesa said. “It's a long day, it's a stressful day; she's a junior, she's got next year. We'll pick it up next year. It's bowling; you have a good day, you have a good game, you have a bad game.
“She bowled well, she had a great day and a great game (her second game, a 266) – quite a few great games. She struggled a little bit, but that's OK. I'm very proud of the girls today; they bowled well.”
“It was a tough day,” said Redbird assistant Barbie Gutwein. “The girls had a really great season; I'm proud of all of our seniors – we have five – today just wasn't our day. There's a lot of good teams here.
“Our third game, we stepped up and really came together again; our fourth game, we came out swinging and our last game we had all of our seniors grouped together. We're losing five seniors, so we're going to have to work on rebuilding the team, but we have good help. We have (several underclassmen stepping up).”
Among the Kahoks, Madisyn Junger led the way with a 1,356, followed by Katelynn Wirtel's 1,182, Mikayla Block's 1,060, Zoe Howell's 897, Hailey Gardner's 782 and Anna Watsek's 499. Stemmler led the Panthers with a 1,152 on the day, while Ayers turned in an 1,112 and Lindsay Vanost a 1,060. For the Redbirds, Ashley Heistand rolled a 1,084 on the day, followed by Alex Bergin's 936 and Claire Gorman's 848. Lainey Snow led the Knights on the day with a 1,206, followed by Powell and Tessa Eberhart's 1,119 on the day.
Area individuals were led by Marquette Catholic's Shelby Jones, who had an 1,169 on the day; other individuals included Piasa Southwestern's Alyssa Norell (1,117), Edwardsville's Sydney Sahuri (1,106), Granite City's Ashley Heiman (1,100), Southwestern's Kaitlyn Cathorall (1,019), Civic Memorial's Ashley Westbrook (1,004) and Edwardsville's Rachel McTague (943).
