Schaumburg smashes record en route to title
On adjoining lanes, no more than 10 feet apart, two of the best teams in the state competed at the Prospect Bowling invitational.
On one lane was Schaumburg, winner of four of the five tournaments the Saxons have competed in this season -- including the championship trophy Saturday. On the other lane was Mid-Suburban League archrival Hoffman Estates.
In the final team standings, the Saxons won the meet by 450 pins over runner-up Waubonsie Valley (5,733). The Saxons' total of 6,183 broke the tournament record by 226 pins.
Hoffman Estates placed third, 497 pins behind.
While Hoffman had a slow start, Schaumburg had no such trouble.
"(We were strong) from beginning to end," said Saxons' coach Mark Kelly. "They shot 1,147 in the first game, then we bowled outstanding the rest of the way. We bowled over 1,000 every game except the fifth and sixth."
Schaumburg featured the top two bowlers -- junior Marilyn Gawlik, whose 1,380 was the second highest total in tournament history -- and her sister, freshman Jodi Gawlik (1,336).
"The team we needed to bowl against was Rockford Guilford," Marilyn Gawlik said. "We were losing by 10 pins in the second game this afternoon. I talked to Sammy (Kelly). We wanted to show Hoffman what we could do."
The players on both sides said, for the most part, that they weren't thinking of Thursday's Mid-Suburban League dual meet between the two teams.
Schaumburg and Hoffman Estates will battle boasting 72-0 records in MSL competition.
"We didn't really get pumped up," said Jodi Gawlik. "The conditions were good, especially in the morning, because the shot was to my liking."
"We came out at the (lunch) break in second place," said Hoffman Estates coach Dan Pfligler. "That's an accomplishment. We came back and threw a couple of 900-1,000 games.
"Our problem in the first game was spares. The first game we had 14 makable spares that we missed. The rest of the way we didn't miss more than 7."
Hoffman's Amanda and Natalie Cortese, who are leading the MSL in average, were the only Hawks to place in the top 22 in the final standings. Amanda was 21st with 1,198 pins, while Natalie finished 22nd with 1,196.
"My first game was really bad," Natalie Cortese said. "We were slumming. We always have a way to start again. We knew we could bowl better than 838."
Waubonsie Valley was led by Katie Dupuis (1,235) in 10th place.
"Yes and no," Waubonsie coach Amy Rymer said of her feelings about finishing second. "We have a lot of possibilities but we'd still like to see them bowl stronger. We were hoping to do well at the end.
"Schaumburg is a very good team. We're all trying to emulate them."