Goodings
Grove Luther J. Schilling William E. Young William J. Butler
Hadley
Middle Homer Jr. High
Contact:
Charla Brautigam, Communications/Public Relations Manager
cbrautigam@homerschools.org |
708-226-7628
For
Immediate Release:
April 18, 2018
Homer
Bowling Enjoys a Year of Firsts
Captures
1st at State Tournament
It’s been a year of firsts for the Homer 33C Bowling program: First year
tryouts were open to sixth-graders; first year Homer hosted a bowling
tournament; first year a Homer team won the State Championship.
“It’s been an incredible year for the Mustangs,” said Hadley Middle
School teacher and bowling coach Andrew Dole. “Our students worked hard all
season long and their efforts paid off.”
Momentum started to build in March when Homer hosted its first-ever
Bowling Tournament at Lockport’s Strike and Spare II on March 20.
Sixty-one bowlers from 10 different schools participated. Both the Homer
girls team and the Homer boys team came out on top, winning their
divisions.
They went on to compete at the IESA Sectionals (the first year IESA added
sectional qualifiers) and, finally, the State Tournament on April 13 and 14 in
Joliet.
Twenty-four boys and girls teams participated in the State Tournament,
bowling four games the first day. Only the top 10 teams advanced to Saturday’s
match-up where they bowled six more games.
The Homer boys team, consisting of seventh-graders Jason Laba and Nate
Arient as well as eighth-graders Gavin Gucwa and Kyle Beckley, bowled extremely
well the first day and were in first place after games two and three.
The girls team, comprised of eighth-graders Emma Punter and Demi Kontos;
seventh-grader Cassie Kontos; and sixth-grader Paige Matiasek, was solid from
the start, bowling an incredible 735 the first game of the tournament. Led by Paige Matiasek’s 220 game, the team’s
four-person score of 735 was the highest game shot by any girls team the entire
weekend. By the end of day one, their team led by 104 pins.
That night, the Mustangs had an entire night to think about what they
needed to do to on Saturday to accomplish their goals, said Dole.
“The teams were bowling with different pressure on them Saturday morning
and it showed,” he added. “The teams bowled three games in the morning session
and it started off very sluggish. The teams were not striking as much as the
previous day and also missing spares that normally they would convert. The boys
moved down to 4th place and the girls team stayed in first, but only had a
40-pin lead going into the lunch break.”
After lunch, both teams bowled much better.
“The boys were able to close the gap on 3rd but ended up in 4th place --
the best finish in program history at the state tournament,” said Dole.
“The girls team came together and rallied to increase their lead,” he
added. “By the end of game 9, their lead was 144 pins. With only one game remaining they bowled
against the second place team. All four girls had an amazing 10th frame and
beat the second place team 671-666. When
all 10 games were added up they won by 149 pins.”
In addition to finishing 1st and 4th in State, the teams had four
medalists based on their individual scores:
●
Jason Laba finished 10th
●
Paige Matiasek finished 7th
●
Emma Punter placed 8th
●
Cassie Kontos finished 15th
The girl’s State championship trophy is the first for Homer’s bowling
program.
For a complete rundown of the IESA State Bowling Tournament, visit the
IESA website at https://www.iesa.org/activities/bo/
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