COLLINSVILLE – The home-standing Collinsville Kahoks won their own IHSA girls bowling regional tournament on Saturday, rolling a 5,596 to take first place at Camelot Bowl in Collinsville.
Highland finished second with a total of 5,347, Edwardsville was third, coming in at 4,961 and Jersey rounded up the top four who qualified for the sectional tournament next Saturday at S.I. Bowl Family Fun Center in Carterville, rolling a 4,907.
Alton finished fifth with a total of 4,647, followed by Triad, who bowled 4,509, Metro-East Lutheran, with a score of 4,444, Roxana, with 4,344, Civic Memorial, who rolled 4,063, Piasa Southwestern, who had a 3,709, Vandalia, at 3,462, two teams from East Alton-Wood River, who had scores of 3,108 and 2,964, and Granite City, who had a 2.825.
Ashleigh Thilman led the Kahoks with a six-game series of 1,228, followed by Caitlyn Ennis, who bowled 1,211, Tyme Sampson, who rolled 1,111, Cristie Buckman with a 962, Brandy Stewart with a 695, and Mackenzie Hunter, who had a 391.
Rachel McTague led the Tigers with a 1,096, followed by Sydney Sahuri’s 1,077,
Rylee Langendorf bowled a 1,022, Amy Malcharek rolled a 634, Maren McSparin had a 558, Ashley Kuethe a 298, Samantha Linck had a single game of 125, and Charlotte Hayes tossed a 121.
Cassie Bowman led the Panthers with a 1.076 set, followed by Samantha Tallman at 1,069, Sammie Malley at 1,032 series, Emma Williams rolled an 877, and Kiley Shaw an 853,
Vandalia’s Madison Ferguson was the individual champion, with a 1,325, while her teammate, Aurora Richardson, was runner-up at 1,163. Alton’s top two bowlers of Alex Bergin and Ashley Westbrook qualified as individuals with series of 1,156 and 1,122 respectively. Also qualifying as individuals were Karsyn Braasch of Triad, with a 1.093, Taylor Whitehead of Marquette Catholic with a 1,033, Metro-East Lutheran’s Olivia Halusan, who rolled a 1,023, Halusan’s teammate Marissa Rowe, who had a 1,017, and Olivia Stangler of Roxana, who had a 1,008 series to go through.
In addition, Triad’s Chenoa Stokes qualified in the wheelchair division, rolling a 273.
Tigers fourth, Redbirds sixth at end of Day 1 of SWC Meet
EDWARDSVILLE – The Edwardsville girls bowling team used a strong second game, finishing as a team with 947, to roll to a team total of 2,560 to finish in fourth place at the end of the first day of the Southwestern Conference girls bowling tournament Tuesday afternoon at Edison’s Entertainment Center in Edwardsville. The second day was moved from last Wednesday because of weather to Tuesday.
Alton had a top game of 803 in the first game and finished sixth with a team score of 2,322. O’Fallon was in the lead at the end of the first day with a score of 2,970, with Belleville East in second at 2,772 and Collinsville in third with a 2,658. Belleville West is in fifth at 2,527.
The Tigers got off to a slow start, but got hot in the second game, stringing together strikes to put Edwardsville in position.
“We had a little bit of a slow start, especially in the lead-off and anchor positions,” said Edwardsville coach Kimber Moscarelli. “But, man, that second game, we had a really good momentum push. We had a lot of string of strikes going, everyone’s covering their spares. I think that game was one of the highest games we’ve posted this season, and if I’m not mistaken, that was the highest game for the second game of all the varsity teams. I was super proud of the girls to post that high score in that second game, and they continued to push through the third game, even as the lanes were drying out.”
Rachel McTague and Sydney Sahuri were the top bowlers for Edwardsville on the day, with McTague posting games of 179, 222 and 160, while Sahuri had games of 188, 178 and 202.
“Definitely Rachel stepped up,” Moscarelli said. “Rachel’s been kind of having a difficult time this year, and we’ve made some changes, and she had definitely come back up, and then Sydney’s been usually one of our top bowlers as well. So, Rachel and Sydney were definitely the one-two punch, like they used to be; it’s kind of nice seeing that. And everybody else had a real solid set after that. I didn’t really see games below 160, and that’s what you need to get out of the regional. So those 160s are your team’s low. So, I really like seeing the spares shooting; that’s what we’ve been working on, and really talking about how spares are going to be the make or break for the team, and I was really impressed with finally seeing it come together.”
Alton’s top two bowlers on the day were Alex Bergin, with scores of 180, 226 and 192, while Ashley Westbrook rolled games of 225, 193 and 183.
“Not bad, they did good,” said Redbird coach Dave Meyer. “I had the sophomore, Regan (Spinks), she came up, Ashley had a 601, Alex had a 598. They’re all doing good, it’s just staying focused, and staying positive.’
Both Bergin and Westbrook are the team leaders for the Redbirds, and both are doing well after the first day of competition.
“They are the leaders,” Meyer said, “and I really wish that they could believe in themselves a little bit more. And it would help the team believe in themselves, too. But that’s something that’s hard to do, but they are the leaders for scores on the team, both of them. They can both take off and score really well.”
In addition to McTeague and Sahuri, Sam Linck had games of 203 and 160, Rylee Langendorf rolled games of 160, 182 and 172, Maren McSpann had games of 122, 162 and 168, and Amy Malcharek had a single game of 99.
Sami Dublo had games of 148. 127 and 166 for the Redbirds, while Spinks rolled games of 128,117 and 94, and Robi Dublo rolled a 122, 133 and 88.
Abby Gray led Belleville East with games of 214, 225 and 217, Caitlyn Ennis led Collinsville with games of 162. 141 and 208, Lauren Tomaszewski led O’Fallon with games of 237. 210 and 182, and Haley Dunn led Belleville West with games of 203, 202, and 170.
Collinsville leads the junior varsity competition with a score of 2,009, followed by O’Fallon with 1,729, Belleville East at 1,649, Belleville West at 1,583 and Edwardsville with 1,527.
The second day of the tournament, scheduled for Wednesday at St. Clair Bowl in Fairview Heights, was postponed due to Wednesday morning’s arrival of the Polar Vortex, which caused the cancellation of school in the entire conference. Meyer doesn’t believe that the postponement will affect the teams.
“I don’t think it’s going to affect anybody,” Meyer said. “Really, what that does is gives all the teams an extra day of practice before we have regionals on Saturday. So really, it’s not going to affect anybody for next week or anything, any different than if it was tomorrow.”
Dan Brannan also contributed to this story.
