Cougars have plenty of fun at own invite

The Cougar Invitational keeps growing bigger - and better.

The competition gets tougher each year, and the field has reached 25 teams.

But the Vernon Hills boys bowling team still finds ways of battling against the best teams in the state.

On Saturday, the Cougars pulled out third place by 1 pin over Rockford Jefferson - 5,689 to 5,688 - at Brunswick Zone Hawthorn in Vernon Hills.

"It great that we got third place," said Cougars coach Ron Long. "I'm not sure we expect anything except to do our best. Our best got us into third."

Andrew captured team honors with 5,780 pins, finishing 73 pins ahead of runner-up Freeport over the six-game invitational.

"We bowled against the best teams here," Long said. "We had a good showing and this is a nice warm-up, competitive and it's a home tournament. This team doesn't give up and they hung in there."

The Cougars threw a 979 in their final game after opening the day with 1,025.

"We had a 1,000 game to begin with and them plummeted," said Eric Hencier, a junior, who recorded a 1,127 series with a high game of 222. "We were going up and down. But it seemed like every team was doing it. It was great to have PBA Hall-of Famer Bill Spigner (assistant coach) to help us."

Chris Weaver led the Cougars with 1,254, including games of 237 and 234 en route to fourth place in the individual standings.

"I thought I could've been higher," Weaver said. "But the way I bowled fourth place was pretty good. It was a tougher shot. The scores were lower for teams and individuals. You just do the best you could out there."

Other Cougars who contributed were Aaron Rose (1,129), Alex Wong (1,106) and Brandon Knopoff (1,073).

Brother Rice senior Bryan Thompson, who won the state title as a freshman, was the top individual with 1,345. Thompson started with a 558 and had a 758 in his last three games that included 246, 267 and 244.

"Over the first three games, the lanes were in transition and I was trying to find my shot," Thompson said. "Once the lanes opened up. I was able to carry. I never expected to shoot 758 to win it. I was looking for top 10 hopefully."

Lake Park finished 12th, led by sophomore left-hander Adam Keith in third place (1,269) with a high game of 254.

"I thought I threw the ball really well," Keith said. "The shot was tough in general. It was a little of a house shot, not like a PBA shot. I basically had to take things one shot at time."

Stevenson's Ryan Sonnack was 19th with 1,182 and a high game of 225.