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38 | January 24, 2019 | The Homer Horizon sports homerhorizon.com Porters dominate, win third-straight conference title Randy Whalen Freelance Reporter It was a Porter three-peat. Led by an entire team of All-Conference players, the Lockport Township girls bowling team used its home lanes to its advantage. The result was another South- West Suburban Conference championship at the conference meet on Saturday, Jan. 19, at Strike and Spare II in Lockport. It was domination from start to finish, as Lockport nearly bowled a record game to open the day and finished with a 6,112 total to defeat runner-up Lincoln-Way West by 605 pins. It’s the third-straight conference championship for the Porters and their 10th overall since the league formed for the 2005-2006 season. The only school that comes close to that is Andrew, which won six-straight SWSC Red Division titles between the 2009-2010 and 2014-2015 seasons. From the 2009-2010 season through the 2015-2016 season, there were two divisions in the SWSC for girls bowling, but now with only nine schools participating in girls bowling, it’s back to one big conference meet. “It never gets old,” Lockport coach Art Cwudzinski said. “It’s always a team goal to win the conference. You never get tired of winning.” Lockport didn’t quite capture first in everything, however. That’s because West junior Kenzie Ullian took the individual champion honor, winning her fourth tournament of the year with a 1,312 six-game series. That included a high of 247 in the third game. “Yes, it definitely was nice,” said Ullian, who was second at the conference meet last season. “Honestly, I’ve just been focusing more, making spares and working well. [With the postseason coming up], we just have to make sure we stay on our own game and not worry about other teams.” The Top 11 bowlers made All-Conference. All five of the Lockport bowlers achieved that honor. Sophomore Chloe Siezega (1,294, 2nd, high of 248 in Game 2) led the way and was only 18 pins out of first. “It was close,” Cwudzinski said of the individual battle. “Kenzie just bowled a little better in the last game (227- 201) and earned it. But it added a little excitement to it.” Siezega’s six-game total and was a career high, and so was her opening three-game series of 674. “It was just picking up spares and believing that my teammates had my back,” Siezega said. “[In the postseason], I expect us to work better as a team like we did [at the SWSC Tournament]. We had a little talk as a team [a couple of weeks ago], and that helped a lot.” The rest of the Porters All- Conference bowlers were junior Samantha Traina (1,285, 3rd, high of 247 in Game 2), junior Jessica Ramirez (1,196, 5th, high of 265 in Game 2), senior Erin Kleffman (1,187, 7th, high of 216 in Game 3) and junior Emilie Pleshar (1,150, 8th, high of 216 in Game 2). They all helped the Porters to the first-place total of 6,112. West (5,507) was second, followed by Lincoln- Way Central (5,404), and Lincoln-Way East (5,326) was fourth. Senior fourthplace finisher Alyssa Novak (1,220, high of 247 in Game 4) led fifth-place Sandburg (5,243). Senior and 11thplace finisher Noelle Doody Lockport’s Emilie Pleshar warms up Saturday, Jan. 19, before the SouthWest Suburban Conference meet at Strike and Spare II in Lockport. Photos by Adam Jomant/22nd Century Media (1,131, high of 211 in Game 2) led Andrew (4,878) to sixth place. Stagg (4,180), Thornridge (4,129) and Bolingbrook (4,100) rounded out the nine teams. “The girls bowled very well, the best they had all year,” Cwudzinski said. “We bowled a 1,187 in our first game of the day. That was the fourth-best total in school history. Our highest was a 1,213 in 2016. We actually had a couple of opens in the 10th frame, or we would have broken that.” On the JV level, Lockport dominated with a total of 5,695. That was 1,265 pins ahead of runner-up West (4,430). Sophomore Payton Vandenburg (1,231, high of 226 in Games 1 and 3) was the individual champion, as the Porters placed all five bowlers in the Top 5. Chloe Siezega tunes up prior to the conference meet.
homerhorizon.com sports the Homer Horizon | January 24, 2019 | 39 fastbreak 22nd century media file photo 1st and 3 LTHS boys bowling advances to state 1. Top 6 move on The Lockport boys bowling team punched its ticket to state, rolling a collective 6,277 to place fifth at the Andrew Sectional Saturday, Jan. 19, at Orland Bowl in Orland Park. The Top 6 teams all advanced to state. 2. Getting encouragement After a 935 in the fourth game that dropped them out of the Top 6, LTHS coach Ron Davis fired up his team with a pep talk. The Porters came back with a 1,061 in Game 5 and survived with a 939 in Game 6. 3. Pleshar production Porters boys bowler Evan Pleshar finished fourth overall individually at the sectional, getting a high of 278 in Game 2 and a total score of 1,450. Boys Bowling Porters place fifth at tough sectional, advance to state in O’Fallon Pleshar leads Porters with fourthplace individual finish in Orland Park Randy Whalen Freelance Reporter They’re back. After qualifying for state a year ago, both the Lincoln-Way Central and Lincoln-Way West boys bowling teams are back this season. In fact, West is there for the third-straight season. Plus, after missing out last year, Lockport Township will return for the sixth time in the past seven seasons and 11th time since the state tournament started for the 2002-2003 season. That’s because the trio of local teams survived the Andrew Sectional, which was the toughest sectional in the state, on Saturday, Jan. 19, at Orland Bowl, and were among the Top 6 advancing teams. The State Finals will be held this Friday, Jan. 25 and Saturday, Jan. 26, at St. Clair Bowl in O’Fallon. Minooka (6,630 pin-fall total) won its fourth sectional title in the past six years and advanced to state for the seventh-straight season. Central (6,445) placed second, just edging out West (6,439). Behind individual champion, Matt LaBonte (1,499), Richards (6,393) was fourth, while Lockport (6,277) placed fifth and Joliet West (6,262) squeezed out the last spot when Sandburg (7th, 6,244) faltered with an 871 in the final game. Plainfield South (6,232) was eighth, followed by Oak Forest (6,189), Brother Rice (6,095), Plainfield Central (5,944), Plainfield North (5,915), T.F. North (5,895), Thornridge (5,822), Evergreen Park (5,747) and Morgan Park (5,640) rounding out the 16-team field. To compare how tough this was, every team in the Andrew Sectional except for Morgan Park scored high enough to advance out of the Hinsdale South Sectional. In third place at the break (3,342) the Porters had a 935 in the fourth game. That dropped them out of the Top 6 at that time and got coach Ron Davis fired up to do an old-fashioned pep talk. “I went off,” Davis said. “I told the team, ‘Do you want to bowl or do you want to go home?’ Even in the last game, I asked them, ‘Are you going to bowl or are you done?’” The Porters came back with a 1,061 in the fifth game and then survived a 939 in the sixth game to finish 33 pins ahead of seventh-place Sandburg. Part of that was because of a great day by Evan Pleshar (1,450, 4th overall, high of 278 in Game 2), who was the only Lockport bowler to be in all six games. Fellow senior Jake Grau (1,055, 248 in Game 3) bowled the final five games for the Porters. “Honestly, it was a rollercoaster,” Grau said. “But as a team, we pulled together to get where we are at. It’s the hardest sectional in the state, and with that, we did very well. Coach Davis just wanted us to do the best we could. “I wasn’t even on the team last year. So to go to state my senior year is just surreal. It’s great.” Everyone in the Lockport lineup bowled at least two games. Sophomore Jimmy Kontos (838, high of 258 in Game 1) and junior Ray Bufka (833, high of 256 in Game 3) each bowled the first four games, while senior Jimmy Rozhon (727, high of 195 in Game 5) bowled a total of four games. Caleb Derrig (604, high of 215 in Game 1) was in the first three games, fellow senior Andrew Bean (408, high of 223 in Game 5) and junior Tim Hoak (362, high of 197 in Game 5) bowled the last two games for the Porters. “In the postseason, you play to live another day,” Davis said. “But this sectional is so tough. Our seventh-place team could come in third in most any other sectional. We hadn’t placed in an invite all year, so to get fifth in the sectional is great. For most of these guys, they haven’t been to state. So, it will be a new experience.” Individually, Providence senior Adam Kowalik will also be going to state. The Homer Glen resident, who will bowl at St. Ambrose next season, finished in ninth place overall with a total of 1,383. That included a high of 240 in the second game. “I just missed making it by about 10 pins last year,” Kowalik said of making it to state. “I was determined to make it this year. I was just going in prepared really well. My high school coach, Kevin Kullman, really helped me prepare. “I was one of the original nine guys on the first bowling team at Providence [in the 2015-2016 season]. I came into [the sectional] with a lot of confidence. Still, it’s kind of surreal. After four years, it’s a dream come true.” “We took fourth in the [SouthWest Suburban] conference meet, third at the [Minooka] Regional, and now second at the sectional,” Central coach Coley O’Connell said. “Yes, the kids are saying that means first [next week at state]. But we just had a good morning (3,385) series and kind of rode that wave the rest of the day.” No one rode it better than Alex Nolan. The junior veteran rolled a 300 in the fifth game. “Every ball I had was right there,” Nolan said of the 300. “I was very happy to do it at the sectional. It’s really rewarding.” That wasn’t the only 300 of the day. Brother Rice sophomore Tony Lundy had one in the third game, and that helped him to a total of 1,483 and a second-place finish. As for Nolan, he finished with a 1,416 series, which was good for seventh place overall, including starting the day with a 249. “Going into the regional and beyond, we’ve just worked as a team,” Nolan said. “It’s going to get better and better. I just know we have to focus at state. It’s a grind there with six games on Friday and hopefully six games on Saturday. You have to be sharp mentally and get spares.” Nolan, who helped the Knights take third in the state last season, had to be mentally tough on his 300. Before the 10th frame, there was an equipment malfunction on the lane, and he had to wait it out to complete the perfecto. “He’s only a junior, but he’s our veteran,” O’Connell said of Nolan. “We had only two seniors today, and they weren’t in the starting lineup. But they stayed upbeat. We used all our guys, and they all stepped up when we needed them to.” LISTEN UP “We pulled together to get where we are at. It’s the hardest sectional in the state, and with that, we did very well.” Jake Grau — LTHS boys bowler, on making it out of the stacked Andrew Sectional and heading to state as a team Tune In Girls Bowling Last lanes — Friday, Jan. 25 and Saturday, Jan. 26, at St. Clair Bowl in O’Fallon • The Porters return to state for the sixth time in seven seasons, looking to make the most of the experience. Index 34 - This Week In 33 - Athlete of the Week FASTBREAK is compiled by Editor Thomas Czaja, tom@ homerhorizon.com.
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