COLUMBIA - Eric Spond led Alton as the Redbirds advanced as a team, while Civic Memorial advanced Ben Morris and Eric Harkey. Caleb Wonders went through for Roxana and L.J. Walker qualified for East Alton-Wood River at the IHSA Columbia boys bowling regional tournament Saturday morning and afternoon at West Park Bowl in Columbia.
Marquette Catholic put three bowlers - Max Cogan, Hayden Sherman and Nicholas Trefny - through to next week's sectional. See related story.
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Belleville East won the tournament with a team score of 6,308, edging out Waterloo, who had a score of 6,300, third place went to Belleville West with a 6,120 and the Redbirds were the fourth and final team to advance with a six-game team score of 5,980. The Explorers were fifth with a score of 5,874, in sixth place were the host Eagles with a 5,757, CM came in seventh with a 5,609, Dupo finished in eighth with a 5,262, the Oilers were ninth with a 5,123 and rounding out the top ten was Belleville Althoff Catholic with a 5,017. The Shells were 11th at 4,867, Cahokia came in 12th with a 4,835, Granite City was 13th with a 4,137 and Waterloo Gibault Catholic was 14th with a 3,822.
Evan McGibney of the Lancers was the individual champion with a six-game score of 1,325, while Cogan was the leading individual qualifier with a 1,311 series. Walker was second EAWR with a 1,257. Sherman went through with a score of 1,233, Morris qualified for the sectional with a score of 1,227, Trefny was next with a 1,225, Wonders went through with a score of 1,218 and Harkey was the final individual qualifier with a 1,217.
Spond led the Redbirds with a 1,302, while Sam Ottwell tossed a six-game set of 1,229, Ben Mitchell had a 1,119 series, Brayden Buchanan had a 931 set, Gabe Futney had a 600 series, Roman Cross had a score of 591 and Ryan Cook had a single game of 168.
In addition to Walker's qualifying score, the Oilers saw Tim Melton shoot a 1,151 score, Miguel Romero had a 911 series, Bryce Hyde came up with a 908 score and Brayden St. Peters had an 896 series. Outside of Wonders, the Shells had Anthony Green bowl a 986 set, with Hayden Harvey had a 951 score, Zach Meador throwing an 886 series, Joel Smith had a 462 two-game series and Mike Wilfong had a 364 score. The Warriors' top bowler was Brendan Hard, who had a 1,171 series, while Jake McCrory had a 931 set, Caleb Schaefer had a 764 series, Mason Scarborough threw a 650 set and Henry Mink had a 621.
The qualifying teams and individuals all advance to the Collinsville sectional next Saturday, starting at 9 a.m., with the state tournament being held Jan. 27-28 at St. Clair Bowl in O'Fallon.
