Bucs, Thunder qualify three for sectional bowling tournament

By Bob Balgemann

REPORTER

Belvidere and Belvidere North High Schools will be represented by three bowlers at Saturday, Jan. 21’s sectional tournament in Vernon Hills.

Sophomore Justin Bragg of Belvidere North rolled a six-game 1,243 series to finish fifth among the eight who qualified as individuals, because their teams did not advance.

Also advancing were North’s Javier Martinez with a 1,237 series and freshman Greg Suthers of Belvidere, who had a 1,232 pin fall.

Team-wise, the Blue Thunder came in sixth at the Guilford regional, held on Saturday, Jan. 14, with the Bucs finishing eighth. Only the top four teams move on to the sectional.

Hononegah amassed 6,857 pins to win the Guilford event. That pin fall was best by 321 pins among the 16 teams winning regionals on Saturday, Jan. 14. Another NIC-10 competitor, Harlem, took second at Guilford.

The 2016-17 regular season came to a close Thursday, Jan. 12 as North’s girls finished third with a 7-2 record. Its only losses were to conference champion Harlem and the runner-up, Guilford.

North and Belvidere both were 7-2 in 2015-16, and in a tie for second place, two games behind conference champion Harlem. The Lady Huskies were champions again this season, once again going undefeated.

Belvidere came at 5-4 this year, which was good for fifth place.

On the boys’ side, both Belvidere and North finished at 2-7, in a tie for eighth place with Boylan.

Belvidere North’s girls won their final two matches of the regular season, over Rockford East and Boylan.

Junior Brynn Lambrecht sparked the win over East with a 255 single game, third best for that day. In the 1,182-pin victory over Boylan, senior Alexis Bendorf recorded a personal best 739 series, second best during that day’s matches, while junior Kylie Johnson had a 268 single game, third best on Thursday, Jan. 12.

Belvidere fell to Freeport despite a 667 series by senior Holley Steelberg and her 256 single game. Both of them were second best for the day.

The Blue Thunder dropped their final two matches, to East and to Boylan, the latter by just 96 pins.

Aaron Rochon, up from the junior varsity, shot a 268 single game, best for Tuesday, Jan. 10, but Freeport defeated Belvidere. The Bucs bounced back Thursday, Jan. 12; however, to drop East (4-5) below the break-even mark within a solid 3,689 to 3,373 decision.

Belvidere senior Joe Gallagher recorded a personal best 280 in that victory. While that’s close to perfection, it didn’t give him a top five finish in the conference this season. That’s because there were four 300 games during the year, along with one 299.