BOYS PREP BOWLING: Alton wins third straight regional, CM second

AHS wins 3rd straight regional, CM second

Pete Hayes, phayes@thetelegraph.com

 Updated 8:18 pm CST, Monday, January 14, 2019

Photo:

Submitted Photo

The Alton High boys bowling team captured its third consecutive regional championship Monday in Decatur and will advance to its own sectional tournament next Saturday at Bowl Haven. From left are T’ravion Ward, Lance Perkey, Jared Cochran, Trevor Vallow, Chris Duke, Dan Laslie Jr, Gavin Taylor and Matt Engdale.

DECATUR — Two days late was no problem for the Alton High boys bowling team. In fact, Monday’s IHSA Boys Bowling Regional Tournament at Spare Time Lanes in Decatur ended up being a good day for Telegraph area teams in general.

Alton rolled to its third consecutive team regional championship, getting past runner-up Civic Memorial, while Jersey placed third and Roxana was fourth.

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CM’s Gordon Madrey grabbed the individual regional championship with 1315 pins. Alton’s Trevor Vallow was second overall with 1296, followed by Christian Bertoletti third with 1272 and Chatham’s Connor Jones fourth with 1271.

The regional tournament had been originally scheduled for Saturday, but was postponed because of the heavy snowfall that hit the Midwest over the weekend.

That means all four local teams will advance to next Saturday’s Alton Sectional Tournament at Bowl Haven.

“It was a good day for the local bowlers,” Meyer said. “The teams that had to drive up here (Sunday) and spend the night ended up having the best day.”

Alton claimed the team championship with 5296 total pins. CM was second with 5814, followed by Jersey third with 5598 and Roxana fourth with 5583.

The rest of the team standings including Abingdon fifth with 5297 pins, Taylorville sixth with 5219, West Central seventh at 5173, Marquette Catholic ninth at 4916, Southwestern 10th with 4819 and East Alton-Wood River 11th with 4718.

“Winning a third straight regional was one of this team’s goals all season,.” Alton coach Dave Meyer said. “Especially since we had seven seniors. We wanted them to go out with a bang.”

The top 10 individuals who aren’t on one of the advancing teams will also advance to the sectional tournament at Bowl Haven.

Zane Longley led the way for Jersey with 1227 pins and a seventh-place individual finish.

“We had a good day,” Jersey coach Chris Skinner said. “Qualifying as a team is always the goal.”

Meyer said that his team’s third consecutive regional title was different from the first two.

“It was a combination of everybody pitching in,” Meyer said. “Even the boys who weren’t bowling today cheered and supported the team.

“We had a good core,” Meyer said. “And we got off to a good start with a great first game out of the block. We led it all the way from the first game.”

The Redbirds did stumble a but midway through the day. Combined with a strong CM game, the Eagles were able to climb from 114 pins back to within 43 pins, but they got no closer.

Other area scorers included CM’s Cort Jackson fifth with a 1243, Alton’s Matt Engdale sixth at 1242, Jersey’s Jeremy Vanost ninth with 1195, Alton’s Gavin Taylor 11th at 1180 and Logan Wonders of Roxana 12th with 1165 pins.

Sam Cogan was tops for Marquette with 1135 pins and 19th-place finish. William Hoesing of Carlinville was 26th with 1085 and Joel Tucker paced Southwestern with 1068 pins and a 27th-place finish. The top bowler for EA-WR was Garrett Holt, who was 32nd with 1031 pins.