By Jeff Degraw
For the Bugle
www.buglenewspapers.com
This past Saturday, all four Plainfield high schools participated in the 26th Annual Strikefest girls bowling tournament at Town & Country Lanes hosted by Plainfield North.
Plainfield Central competed in the Silver Division at the Plainfield North Strikefest. (Photo by Mark Gregory)
It is the largest and what has become the best girls regular season invitational in the state. The eventual state champion is in the field as it has been for the past 12 years. This tournament also gives teams a chance to see what the state finals will be like, with the competitiveness of the field and the usual pressure of the situation.
After the morning three games the teams are divided into four different divisions. The top 12 teams are in the gold division and their team scores carry over to the afternoon three games. The remainder of the teams are put into the silver, bronze and copper divisions and their standings are based only on the afternoon three games. All individual scores are based on all six games.
The top individual performance was from senior Jenna Sussenbach from North.
The senior placed 11th overall with a six game total of 1,212.
Her high game of 237 was on the first of her six games.
“I was a little disappointed with my finish the last two games,” Sussenbach said. “I kind of was pushing through all day and the thing I really learned today was that the lanes didn’t change like I thought they would. I usually move to the left as the day goes on, but today they were different and you had to make adjustments.”
The Tigers finished seventh in the copper division and this young, inexperienced team is make strides as the season progresses.
“I’m happy with what our team has been doing because I’m really the only veteran of the group,” Sussenbach said. “They are together and they ask for my advice on many different things. It’s a great learning experience, not only for them, but for me also. I really enjoy helping everyone on the team.”
Central finished fourth in the silver division and was lead by the 20th place finish of sophomore Ariana Guarino.
After bowling a 549 three-game series in the morning, Guarino came back with a 620 afternoon session and junior Chloe Cavanaugh placed 68th.
“Since we are so young, this tournament was about getting experience,” Wildcat coach Connie McGrath said. “These girls find out what you need to work on to get to the next level and you see the best teams in the state. It shows them how key spare shooting is in a tournament. You can always look at the standings and see that just one, two or three spare pick-ups could make a big difference.
“Bowling is not just about getting strikes, you can’t strike every time you roll the ball. We don’t have one set person is is going to score the best every game. We are learning on trusting each other and bowl as a team. I was happy with our performance today.”
The Cougars of South finished 12th in the silver and had Savannah Magruder, a junior, placed 43rd overall.
“I’m beyond happy with our performance in this tournament, especially in this atmoshere,” South coach Kyle Rohlfs said. “Our main goal was to have a positive attitude throughout the day. You can’t worry about shooting a high score each game, you just need to stay positive. Half of our team are freshman so this was their first experience in a tournament like this and they handled it pretty well.
“We are working on becoming one team regardless of what class you are in. These kids have worked hard for the past three weeks and the performances are showing.”
In the bronze division East finished seventh with senior Kayla Dench finishing 47th and freshman Hailey Bozych in 63rd.