Girls Bowling: Highland takes third, qualifies for sectional
The Highland High School girls bowling team earned the right to play another week after finishing third at the Illinois High School Association Collinsville Girls Bowling Regional Saturday at Camelot Bowl.
Regional host Collinsville won the team title with a total pin count of 5,671 to edge out runner-up Alton’s final team count of 5,645. Third place went to Highland at 5,346 and Triad was fourth at 4,971.
All four teams advance to this Saturday’s Johnson City Sectional to be held this Saturday at S.I. Bowl Family Fun Center in Carterville.
Rounding out the 12-team regional and not qualifying for the sectional were: Jerseyville (4,802), Civic Memorial (4,479), Piasa Southwestern (4,323), Granite City (4,085), Edwardsville (3,895), East Alton-Wood River (3,787), Roxana (3,334) and Metro-East Lutheran (3,257).
The Lady Bulldogs, who are coached by Laura Wander-Vrell and Pam Schrumpf, were paced by senior MaKayla Smith, who came in seventh place individually at 1,160, which equates to a 193.33 average. Her best games were 247, 225 and 189.
Also bowling good series for Highland were sophomore Emma Schuster and senior Lexi Korte. Schuster wrapped up in 13th place at 1,076 (179.33 average). Schuster bowled top games of 204, 192, 180 and 178. Korte was just one spot back in 14th place at 1,067 (177.83). Korte had high games of 203, 198, 181 and 176.
Also shooting good games for the Lady Bulldogs were seniors Jennifer O’Brien (235, 180, 171, 170), Gina Zbinden (192) and Liz Arend (183, 172).
Triad was led by junior Lainey Snow, who finished second overall as an individual with a 1,285 series (a 214 average).
Alton senior Eryka Graham was the individual regional champion with a 1,302 (a 217 average).
The Knights also received an 1,111 series (a 185 average) from sophomore Lizzie Powell.
Prior to the regional, Highland won its last two conference matches — 38-2 over visiting Civic Memorial back on Jan 21 at Poplar Junction Lanes and 35-5 over Triad on Tuesday of last week also at Poplar Junction — to clinch second place alone in the Mississippi Valley Conference behind only champion Waterloo with an 8-2 record.
Highland 35, Triad 5
On Tuesday of last week at Poplar Junction Lanes, the Lady Bulldogs flattened the visiting Knights 35-5 to wrap up sole possession of second place in the Mississippi Valley Conference with an impressive 8-2 record.
Highland swept all 20 of the match’s team points after winning each of the three team games by comfortable margins of 890 to 760, 911 to 854, and 969 to 745 to take the overall pin count by more than 4000 pins, 2,770 to 2,359.
HHS also captured all but five of the match’s 20 individual points seniors Lexi Korte, MaKayla Smith and Gina Zbinden sweeping all four of their individual points.
Triad’s Lainey Snow, the team’s anchor bowler, rolled the match’s superior series with a 660. Her 235 middle game and 234 first one ranked as the top two games in the entire match. Snow wound up with a 191 final game.
Runner-up series honors went to Highland sophomore Emma Schuster, who also hit for a 600 series. Schuster shot games of 200 and 182 before finishing with the match’s third best game of 226.
Korte shot Highland’s second highest series and the third-ranked one overall with a three-game aggregate of 564. Her best individual game was a 222 second one which ranked fourth best in the match. Korte also finished with a 190 game.
Smith bowled a 539 series on the strength of best games of 188 and 184 while Zbinden had a 537 three-game total and high games of 196 and 179.
In addition, senior Liz Arend shot a 522 series on top games of 178 and 175.
Highland’s junior varsity team blanked Triad 7-0, with Delaney Grimes (206) and Molli Pfister (204) achieving the match’s two highest individual games.
Highland 38, Civic Memorial 2
Back on Jan. 21, the Lady Bulldogs flew past the visiting Eagles at Poplar Junction Lanes.
Highland hoarded all 20 of the match’s team points while also clinching 18 of the match’s 20 individual points.
Highland’s third team game of 1,055 shattered the previous team record of 1,040 shot on Feb. 3, 2010 by Alison Krump, Kayla Gruner, Cassey Leitschuh, Kara Gruner, Erin Richey and Danika Dale.
Seniors MaKayla Smith and Lexi Korte led the way for the Lady Bulldogs in the dominant victory.
Smith fired a match-leading 626 series, which was highlighted by the second and third highest games of the match with a 238 initial game and a 227 final one.
Korte was just 18 pins behind Smith with a 608 three-game aggregate. Korte finished in a big way as her last game of 246 ranked as the highest individual game of the entire match. She also had a 191 middle game.
Other good games for Highland came from sophomore Emma Schuster (210) and senior Liz Arend (202, 194).
This story was originally published February 8, 2016 at 7:15 AM with the headline "Girls Bowling: Highland takes third, qualifies for sectional."