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OPPrairiedaily.com sports
the orland park prairie | January 23, 2020 | 43
BOYS BOWLING
Freshman and sophomore lead
Eagles to fifth straight regional title
JEFF VORVA, Sports Editor
It is probably not fair to
compare freshman Gabe
Castro to former Sandburg
standout bowler Cameron
Crowe.
But how can you not?
Especially after what Castro
did over the weekend?
There are some similarities.
Both are left-handed.
Both throw the ball with
two hands. And both were
regional champions as
freshmen, helping the Eagles
to regional titles.
Castro rolled a 1,352
and sophomore Joe Zellinger
finished fourth with
a 1,314 to lead the Eagles
to their fifth straight regional
crown with a 6,212
six-game series to win the
Bremen Regional on Saturday,
Jan. 18 at Centennial
Lanes in Tinley Park.
“Those were big-time
performances,” Sandburg
coach Jeff Kwilose said.
“That was huge. This is
nice. We lost one of the
best bowlers in the state
[Crowe, who graduated in
2019 after finishing second
in the state] and we didn’t
know what we would have
coming back. To get another
one is awesome.”
As for Castro being the
next Crowe?
“To be honest with
you, I don’t see myself
on the same level as Cam
Crowe,” Castro said. “He
is on a whole different
level.”
Zellinger, who has been
teammates with both, said
Castro is not far off.
“He might be a level below
[Crowe] but Gabe is
still amazing at bowling,”
Zellinger said. “When
Sandburg’s Gabe Castro (facing camera) hugs Joe
Zellinger at the Bremen Regional. Castro, a freshman,
won the regional title and Zellinger, a sophomore,
finished fourth. JEFF VORVA/22ND CENTURY MEDIA
Gabe was in junior high
and I was a freshman, I
used to coach him. But he
was pretty much teaching
me because he was so
good.”
Castro, who shook off a
rough performance at the
SouthWest Suburban Conference
meet (19th place
with a pinfall of 1,165)
opened regional action
with a 256. He added a
259 in the fourth game and
a 230 in the fifth game to
help cement the championship
by 30 pins over Bremen’s
Connor Meegan.
Zellinger, an all-conference
performer, opened up
his regional appearance
with a 181 but was consistent
the rest of the way and
averaged 226 the final five
games to finish fourth.
Another all-conference
player, senior Alex Grezlovski,
finished 10th with
a 1,272 and his 279 in
game four was a key, according
to Kwilose.
“We were down four pins
going into the second half,”
the coach said. “His score
helped give us the lead.”
5 AREA SPORTS ROUNDUP
4
That fourth game for
the Eagles resulted in a
tournament-best 1,133 and
helped them beat runnerup
Bremen by 197 pins.
Timmy Novak rolled a
1,149 and Matt Bartlett
(771 in four games), Tyler
Zellinger (193 in one
game) and Gavin Burns
(161 in one game) rounded
out the Sandburg scoring.
The Eagles head to the
Lockport Sectional and
Strike and Spare II in what
could be one of the toughest
sectionals in the state.
Lockport, Oswego, Oswego
East, Plainfield South,
Joliet West, Minooka and
Lincoln-Way Central are
among the 16 teams in the
loaded sectional.
“It’s going to be a very
good sectional,” Kwilose
said. “We hope to be one
of the six that goes to state.
Whether we’re first or sixth
or anywhere in between,
that’s all I care about.”
The Eagles have qualified
for state five times in
school history with the last
coming in 2017.
Sandburg wrestlers outscore their
opponents 231-42 in four matches
JEFF VORVA, Sports Editor
It was a huge three-day
stretch for Sandburg’s
wrestling team as the
Eagles opened things up
with a 57-16 victory over
Lincoln-Way East on Senior
Night on Thursday,
Jan. 16.
Two days later, the Eagles
hosted their own duals
meet and beat Wheaton
North, 57-13, Joliet West,
60-8, and Crystal Lake
Central 57-15 for a 231-
42 advantage in the four
bouts.
Sammie Hayes, Dom
Iannantone, Tyler Milani,
Carson Bruce, James Hart,
Kevin Zimmer and Mike
Bosco won all four bouts
to help the Eagles improve
to 22-5. Moe Alamawi
won all three matches at
the duals competition.
The Eagles entered the
week ranked sixth in the
state in Class 3A by the Illinois
Wrestling Coaches
and Officials Association.
Sandburg’s Moe Alamawi, wearing a protective mask
against a Crystal Lake Central opponent, won all three
of his matches at 152 pounds in the Sandburg Duals
event on Saturday, Jan. 18.
Sandburg swimmer Sean Harlin took second place in
the 200-yard IM at the Al Gilberg Invitational in Orland
Park. PHOTOS BY JEFF VORVA/22nd Century Media
Sandburg fourth in Gilberg
Invite
Host Sandburg’s boys
swimming team finished
fourth in the 12-team 59th
Al Gilberg Invitational,
which wrapped up Saturday,
Jan. 18.
Diver Cody Thill won
his event for the Eagles
with a 444.10 while teammate
Corey Verzak took
second with a 428.80.
Sean Harlin took second
in the 200-yard IM with
a time of 2 minutes, 1.28
seconds and finished fifth
in the 100 fly.
The 200 medley relay
team of Eddie Howaniec,
Jimmy Jenkot, Harlin and
Ayoub Yassin claimed second
with a 1:41.22.
Jenkot place fifth in the
100 free and second in the
100 breast stroke with a
1:03.29.
Harlin, Yassin, Howaniec
and Jenkot took fifth
in the 400 free relay.
St. Charles East won
with 366 points, followed
by Naperville Central with
352.5, Maine South with
327.5 and Sandburg with
210.
Gymnasts set record
The Andrew co-op team,
featuring athletes from
District 230 schools Andrew,
Sandburg and Stagg,
put up a huge record-setting
performance in the
Neuqua Valley Invite on
Saturday, Jan. 18.
The team finished second
with a 141.5, which
broke a 20-year-old school
record for most points in a
meet.
SouthWest Suburban
Conference foe Lincoln-
Way won the event with a
141.775.
Andrew is at the York
Invitational on Saturday,
Jan. 25.