Boys bowling: Stevenson, Vernon Hills nail down regional titles
Stevenson's boys bowling team aimed high starting its state series roll on Saturday in winning the Glenbrook North regional with 6,400 total pins at Bowlero in Mount Prospect.
Glenbrook North (6,092), New Trier (5,779) and Norte Dame (5,604) were the other three teams that qualified to next Saturday's IC Catholic sectional at Brunswick Zone in Glendale Heights.
The Patriots rolled their fourth best 6-game series in school history and had all six games over 1,000 with their best game being an 1,108.
"It's always nice to win," Stevenson coach Cody Mathias said. "We set a goal for 6,200 and just couldn't miss all day. It was nice to see and obviously fun. We didn't get pushed all that much with the teams."
Ryan Lerman of Stevenson was the top regional bowler with a 1,405 series. He finished with games of 254 and 260.
Other Patriots' bowlers were Nicolas Sternes (1,332), Joey Gluck (1,258), Ender Starr (1,204) and Ryan Grabiner (1,201).
Vernon Hills, the Central Suburban League champions, followed that up with the Grayslake North regional title at Fair Haven Bowl in Mundelein on Saturday afternoon.
The Cougars earned the top spot by knocking down 5.934 pins over six games.
"It's great. These kids have been waiting for this for four years," Vernon Hills coach Ron Long said. "We started off bowling really good, the lanes got tougher as the day went on. We just made spares and filled frames. We just held off our other enemies."
Libertyville (5,839), Lake Zurich (5,785) and Waukegan (5,736) were the other schools that qualified for next Saturday's Sycamore sectional at Mardi Gras Lanes.
The Cougars' Brandon Cervantes was the top individual bowler with a 1,290 as he started the day with a 243 and ended with a 234.
"I bowled pretty good for the team," Cervantes said. "It means the world to me doing this in front of my brother Jimmy, who's going back to college (Sunday) at Iowa. My shot was comfortable and I let it roll."
Other Cougars' bowlers were Jacob Gates (1,209), Nicolas Schwind (1,172), Alex Kouvelas (775, 4 games), Joseph Naperkowski (716, 4 games), Brendan Healey (608, 3 games), and Noah Kalicki (164).
Libertyville, for the third straight year, reached the sectional, but the Wildcats would like a trip downstate.
"We had some nerves early on and then we settled down," Libertyville coach Robert Sweno said, "Guys had to make some mental adjustments. Going into the sectional we know that anything can happen."
The Wildcats were led by Devon Hamilton (1,241), Liam Ness (1,220), Jason Ross (1,203), Nick Formento (1,110) and Alex Nelson (1,065).
Lake Zurich, which graduated a number of bowlers from last year's state qualifying team, pulled together enough pins and reached the sectional.
"I'm not surprised, however our guys are pretty good bowlers," Lake Zurich coach Matt Wilhelm said. "This year, we haven't put it all together as a team."
Leading the Bears were Jason Morrison (1,285), Alex Kouras (1,186), Ayden Roberts (1,153), Alex Crawford (1,143), Denny Devern (528, 3 games) and Nate Krzeminski (490, 3 games).
The other bowlers qualifying for the sectional are Andrew Lichter of McHenry (1,246), Mundelein's Owen Jones (1,234), Jacob McLean of McHenry (1,179), Grant's Tom Janusz (1,176), Russell Carcellar of Grayslake Central (1,174), Ben Terronez of Grayslake Central (1,172), Warren's Emilio Torres (1,172), Riley Lind of Prairie Ridge (1,159) and Mundelein's Nicholas Prochnow (1,159).