36 | January 9, 2020 | the new lenox patriot sports newlenoxpatriotdaily.com Boys swimming Bozzi, Knights hold off Andrew to win title at home invite 5 STEVE MILLAR, Sports Editor Lincoln-Way Central junior Joe Bozzi was super pumped up to see the Knights win the championship of their home invite, the Lincoln-Way Central Holiday Invitational, on Thursday, Jan. 2. The Knights kicked off the new year by putting up 210 points to edge Andrew (207) for the title in the eight-team competition. Sandburg (199), Stagg (157), Lemont (148), Hinsdale South (146), Lincoln-Way West (130) and Oak Forest (45) rounded out the field. “It was a great team effort,” Bozzi said. “Everyone swam incredibly well. We’ve all been working extremely hard in practice and it showed today.” While their classmates have been enjoying their winter break, the Knights swimmers have been working through some marathon practices. “It’s a grind practicing while we’re on break,” Bozzi said. “We wake up at like 6:30 every morning and we’re here until noon. So, we’re working very hard but we’re all pushing each other and it’s making us better.” Bozzi, a returning state qualifier in the 200 and 500-yard freestyles, has been coming on strong in the butterfly. At the Holiday Invite, he easily won the 100 fly in 52.98 seconds, more than a second ahead of Sandburg’s Sean Harlin (54.38). “I feel I swam well today, especially in the 100 fly,” Bozzi said. “I’m hoping to get the school record [52.07] for that event by the end of the year.” Bozzi, who also took second in the 200 free (1:45.9) was the Knights’ only winner on the day, but Central pulled off the team title with consistently strong swims across the board. The Knights’ team of Bozzi, Matt Senese, Nathan Fritz and Will Jager finished second in the 200 medley relay (1:43.35), while Bozzi, Senese, Austin Moy and Devin Mihaichuk teamed up for a thirdplace finish in the 400 free relay (3:26.12). Moy, Fritz, Jager and Noah Ivicic were fourth in the 200 free relay (1:36.25). Michaichuk in the 100 fly (57.78), Tyler Quigley in the 100 free (53.69) and Senese in the 100 back (59.85) also had fourthplace finishes for the Knights. “It was very exciting,” Central coach Dana Kellerman said. “[The Knights] swam great and I was so proud of them. We’ve been working on good streamlines and being strong off the walls. Focusing, in general, during winter break can be hard and I was so impressed that they were able to focus on those little things.” Junior Sean Finley led LW West, winning the 100 breaststroke (1:01.85) and taking third in the 200 individual medley (2:05.16). “I feel like I performed very well,” Finley said. “Getting first in the 100 breast was really unexpected, and I got a good time in the 200 IM, too.” The Warriors’ Tristan Minarik was third in the 100 back (59.41). “We’re happy to get in and compete,” West coach Eric Pavlacka said. “This is our only meet over winter break and it’s nice to break up the monotony of just grinding hard in practice every day. We had some great swims and some not great swims, but we’ll look to build on this over a really busy January.” Girls Basketball Threes are wild for Warriors at prestigious tournament 6 RANDY WHALEN Freelance Reporter The Lincoln-Way West girls basketball team made sure its first trip to the State Farm Holiday Classic was a memorable one. The Warriors were certainly underseeded at No. 5 in the girls large school bracket of the tournament, which bills itself as “America’s Largest Coed Holiday Basketball Tournament. The Best Basketball This Side Of March.” They finished third in a talented 16-team field. West (15-2) is known for its 3-point shooting and that was on display in Central Illinois during the final week of 2019. The Warriors ended up shattering the tournament record for most 3-pointers by making 45 for the tourney. The old record was 27, set by Springfield in 2010. West hit 13 threes in each of the first two games, which tied a 19-year old record held by Downs Tri- Valley. Freshman Ava Gugliuzza easily established a new record for most 3-pointers in a tournament. The freshman guard sank 23 of them and had the old record of 16 beat with 17 with one game still to go. She added a half dozen more as the Warriors easily won the third-place game by a score of 79-55 over Bethalto Civic Memorial on Dec. 30 at Illinois Wesleyan’s Shirk Center in Bloomington. “My mom [Amy] told me that,” Ava Gugliuzza said of having the record in hand before the final game. “I certainly did my best and really didn’t come here to break that. I just Lincoln-Way West freshman Ava Gugliuzza broke the State Farm Holiday Classic record with 23 3-pointers in four tournament games. 22nd Century Media file photo enjoy playing on the team and playing with my sisters. I didn’t know I’d do that.” Both Ava and her oldest sister, Taylor Gugliuzza, were named to the All-Tournament team. Ava scored 79 points in the four tournament games. Taylor finished with 96 points, scoring at least 22 points in each game. They were the only two teammates that made the alltournament team. “Ava has been a gamer,” West coach Ryan White said. “She’s stepped in with the older kids and not slowed down. “You never know what you are going to get in these third-place games. So I’m happy the kids came out and played their best. We got in a rhythm, got in flow. We wanted to take off.” Trailing 4-2 early on, the Warriors went on a 10-0 run to take the lead for good. Taylor had a pair of layups in the burst while Ava angled in a pair of 3-pointers. “I’ve preferred to drive in and attack the basket but I will shoot the three if I can,” said Taylor, who was 8-of-10 from the freethrow line in the thirdplace game and made 10 3-pointers in the tournament. “We were upset about the [69-62 semifinal loss to Morton]. But third place isn’t bad and it shows we will be ready to play good teams if it comes to that.” Ahead 17-12 after a quarter and 19-14 a minute into the second period, Taylor scored 13 straight points and had 16 points total as West outscored the Eagles 26-10 the rest of the quarter for a 45-24 halftime lead. Sophomore forward Bri Wooldridge chipped in 13 points and senior guard Sydney Swanberg added eight points for the Warriors. Morton (15-0) defeated Marist (12-3) 68-51 in the title game. The Warriors led Morton by a point after three quarters and were the only team to come within single digits of the Potters in the tournament. “It shows that we can have that attitude,” Ava Gugliuzza said. “We can play with ranked teams like that if we see them again.”
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