By Jeff DeGraw
For the Bugle
It’s billed as the most competitive girls bowling tournament in the state.
The state team champion has bowled in this tournament the past eight years, there were 44 teams participating and it once again lived up to it’s reputation.
This past Saturday, Plainfield North hosted the 25th annual Strikefest bowling tournament at Town & Country Lanes.
After the morning three game session, the teams are divided into 12-team divisions for the afternoon three games.
Only the top 12 teams in the Gold division carry their team scores over, everyone else starts new. All bowlers carry over their individual scores.
Plainfield North, under first year coach Chelsea Oshita, finished 12th in the Gold division. O’Fallon was the overall champion, with Lockport in fourth and Minooka finishing fifth. The Porters Bailey Delrose was the individual champion with a six-game series of 1,380.
“We grew as a team today,” Oshita said. “I really like where we are at in December. Today, we found out what we need to work on and that we can compete with the best teams in the state. We really started well in the morning, we did tail off a little in the afternoon, but we made the gold division and that was important. That shows that if we can get that consistency, we belong with everyone else.”
Oshita also earned high praise from North athletic director Ron Lear.
“Chelsea has done a tremendous job with this team,” Lear said. “I’m so happy to have her a part of this program.”
The Tigers were led by the 11th place finish of junior Jenna Sussenbach, who had a six-game total of 1,222.
“I’m very excited about my performance and how our team did today,” Sussenbach said. “My goal was to place high in this tournament because this is just like what the state tournament is about. I’ve really improved and our team really bowled well and when you can do that in this atmosphere, then it looks great for the future.”
“Jenna does a great job of communicating with me and letting me know what is going on,” Oshita said. “We communicate well and that is important for the athlete/coach to have that trust in each other.”
Plainfield Central placed third in the silver division, finishing just behind Schaumburg and Andrew.
“We really grinded this out in the afternoon and I’m pleased,” Wildcat coach Connie McGrath said. “We are starting to learn that spares are a part of the game. This team is finally getting used to their roles as team members and teammates. It’s a learning curve and being very young, you also have to keep that confidence up.”
Central received a 19th overall finish from senior Megan Allensworth.
“I’m very happy with today,” Allensworth said. “I didn’t miss that many spares and I threw the ball well today. This season started a little rough the first two weeks, but I really feel much better and today will really help the confidence moving forward. This was a huge tournament and their is only one bigger.”
Plainfield South was also in the Silver division and placed 12th. The Cougars also have a first year coach in Dave Raila.
“We started off the day well and I’m pleased with our performance,” Raila said. “We are very young as a team, I’m a new coach with this group, so it has taken a little time to get to know each other. But every match and every tournament I can see the improvement.”
Sophomore Savannah Magruder led the Cougars with a 13th place finish .
“There is still more improvement to come, but I’m pleased with today,” Magruder said. “I did get a little tired at the end, but that is the big part of the mental aspect of bowling. The atmosphere with the noise and everything that is going is cool and mentally challenging. Just have to work on my consistency.”
The Bengals from East placed sixth in the Bronze division and got a 16th overall performance from Kayla Drench.
Drench had her two high games in the first (235) and sixth games (232).
“I just need to get more consistent in the middle,” Drench said. “This is a big tournament and to place in the top 20 is pretty good.