State tournaments begin Saturday for wrestling, girls bowling

Bowling ball, bowling shoes and bowling pins side by side

By Bob Balgemann
Reporter
BOONE COUNTY – Wrestling and girls bowling teams from Boone County will be on the road Saturday, Feb. 6 as their state tournament competition gets under way.
Bowling
Belvidere and Belvidere North will travel to Loves Park for one of the girls bowling regionals, being held at Forest Hills Lanes. The field includes host Harlem, Rockford Auburn, Boylan Catholic, Christian Life, Rockford East, Rockford Guilford, Rockford Lutheran, Rockford Christian, Hononegah and South Beloit.
Qualifying teams and individuals will advance to the Round Lake Sectionals, along with survivors of the Marengo and Vernon Hills regionals. The state finals once again will be held at The Cherry Bowl in nearby Cherry Valley.
Belvidere North is looking to return to state.
The 2014-2015 team finished seventh. It was led by Emily Ashens, Haley Solberg and Tiffany Wagner, who have since graduated.
Belvidere last visited the state finals in 2001-2002, but didn’t place.
Harlem has won five state champions since 1999-2000, when it began a string of winning three consecutive titles.
Wrestling
The Bucs and Blue Thunder will head to Rochelle for a 2A wrestling regional to face Burlington Central, Freeport, Hampshire, the host Hubs, Maple Park Kaneland, Boylan Catholic and Sycamore. Qualifiers from Boone County, Lincoln Way West, Peoria Notre Dame and Peoria East will advance to the LaSalle-Peru Sectional.
The state finals are Feb. 18 through Feb. 20 at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign.
North Boone is in the 1A regional at Aurora Central Catholic along with Christian Liberty Academy in Arlington Heights, Harvest Christian Academy in Elgin, Genoa-Kingston, Mooseheart, Rockford Lutheran, Alden-Hebron and Wheaton Academy in West Chicago.
The sectional is slated for Sterling with qualifiers from Aurora CC, Seneca, Polo and Sherrard. The state finals also are Feb. 18 through Feb. 20 at the University of Illinois.
Among the competitors on this year’s Viking team are Kade Demann, Zach Westlund, Alex Manriquez, Paul Weiss, Ryan Shipp, Teagan Ryan and Conor Ryan.
Bowling
Meanwhile, junior Garrett Nelson (Belvidere North) and senior Larry Tripamer (Belvidere) competed as individuals at the recent state bowling tournament in O’Fallon.
In Friday morning’s preliminary round, Nelson bowled a 191, 210, 202, 168, 220 and 174, for a pinfall of 1,165 and an average of 194 per game. That was good for 110th place among 123 bowlers. Tripamer was next, in 111th place, with 1,157 total pins and a 192 average. His single games were 193, 200, 221, 193, 199 and 163.
The cut was at 70, so neither advanced to Saturday’s finals.