Garcia, Lake Zurich savor tournament triumph
Lake Zurich's Steve Garcia missed a trip to the state championships just a couple of weeks ago, when the Bears lost in the final seconds to Glenbard West in the Class 7A football semifinals.
But on Saturday, Garcia came out a winner, as the Bears' boys bowling team captured the Cougar Classic at Brunswick Hawthorn Lanes in Vernon Hills.
Lake Zurich earned the top spot with a 6-game total of 5,828, which was 78 pins ahead of Lake Park (5,750) and 98 more than Deerfield (5,730) in the 26-team field.
"Football, I've been doing all my life," said Garcia, a junior who played center for the football team and rolled 1,028 on Saturday. "It's hard to change over from football. There's no time to practice during the football season. I'm just starting to get back into it.
"Since, I've been back, we've swept two teams in conference and now we won this tournament. I don't think it's me, maybe it's the chemistry."
Lake Zurich's Austin Wells (1,228) had a big hand in the title, rolling his highest game of the day, a 247, in the last game. Luke Mueller (1,225) tossed a 215, as they finished in seventh and eighth place. Other contributors included Tony Giannecchini (1,203), Kyle Hunter (531, three games) and Mike Schmitt (613, three games).
"It was a pretty big game," Wells said. "I took it upon myself to do my best and help the team."
The Bears won the tournament for the second time in the last three years. Lake Zurich led in five of the six games and rolled games of 1,007 and 1,004 in the last two.
"It was an entirely different group of kids," Lake Zurich coach Peter Kupfer said. "Kids have been waiting in the wings. We didn't have any seniors last year. We've got all of our bowlers back, and we're jelling now, doing well. We were able to finish strong, pushing the pedal all the way through."
Vernon Hills (5,611) made a strong late move in the last two games, going from 22nd place to finish in seventh place. The Cougars had the best team games in the field, 1,075 and 1,015.
"We missed spares (in two earlier games)," Vernon Hills coach Ron Long said. "It tells a lot to the kids, that things can change in a hurry. You've got to hang in there and be tough. I think they learned from it."
The Cougars' Erik Hencier (1,205) finished ninth individually. Other efforts came from Nick Garpow (1,172), Shaefer Shepard (1,121), Alex Wong (1,106), Steven Linda (731, 4 games) and Mason Madej (276, 2 games).
Lake Park's Tyler Sadowski (1,251) ended in fifth place with a high game of 259. Morgan Park's Emanuel Reeves (1,291) won top honors throwing a 299 game and won by 2 pins over Evanston's Michael Thomas (1,289).
Lancers made a strong finishing push over its last two games with 1,030 and 1,026 to go from eighth to second.
"If the guys can stay out of their own way, they would be all right," said Lake Park coach Greg Edwards. "Sometimes it doesn't work and sometimes it does.
"Everything, they started to do, they started jelling. We just need to stay together and enjoy what they're doing."
Lake Park's other scores were Gunar Rud (1,176), Ryan Keith (1,133), Grant Jensen (935, 5 games), Aaron Adams (684, 4 games), Zach Tsiodras (571, 3 games).