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Senior Night, Regional Final Go-Round for some Harlem Bowlers
By Bob Balgemann, REPORTER
It certainly hasn’t been lost on Senior bowlers Alexandra Buffington, Collin Day, Dawson Jones, Devon Lawrence, Mylee McCracken, Jake Nimtz and Amanda Thompson that this is their last year of competing for Harlem High School. The beginning of the end is Senior Night, which is tonight (Thursday) at Forest Hills Lanes in the final NIC-10 match of the season, against Jefferson. Two days later the Boys Regional Tournament will be held at Guilford. The sectional is Jan. 21 at Vernon Hills with the finals Jan. 27-28 back at downstate O’Fallon.
Joining Harlem at Guilford are Belvidere, Belvidere North, Marengo, Boylan, Christian Life, the host Vikings, Rockford Lutheran, Rockford Christian, Hononegah, South Beloit and Woodstock Co-op.
The top four teams and 10 individuals not with an advancing team will move on to Vernon Hills with qualifiers from Regionals in Lake Zurich, Oregon and St. Charles East. Harlem finished fourth at State last year with NIC-10 rival Hononegah in second, just 40 pins behind State Champion Stevenson.
There will be 216 single-class competitors this year, up from 190 in 2015-16.
The Girls Regional is Feb. 4 at East. While the Sectional will be hosted by Belvidere on Feb. 11, that means being at “home,” Forest Hills Lanes, which is the new home base for the Lady Bucs. State is Feb. 17-18 at the nearby Cherry Bowl, in Cherry Valley. Then, for a few, the real curtain-closer will be the Top 16 Tournament. The longstanding goal for Harlem bowlers is winning championships. Harlem’s girls were 7-0 and close to defending their 2015-16 championship.
The Huskies took a 7-0 record into the final two NIC-10 matches of the season with a 3,953-3,750 win over Auburn. The Knights were still in contention after the first game, losing it by just 15 pins. But Harlem took command in game two, winning with the day’s best 1,375 pin fall to 1,245 for Auburn. Harlem took the third game by a close 1,262-1,204.
Dawson Jones turned in two personal bests with a day high series of 782 that put him in third place for the season. His 277 was third best for the day.
As usual, Harlem received standout performances from others on the team led by Noah Mandujano with a three-game 694 series. Next in line were Nick Howard’s 652; Jake Nimtz with a 648; Collin Day, a 627; and Kyler Gerl, a 550.
Harlem’s Junior Varsity Boys continued in a first-place tie with Hononegah when they clubbed Auburn, 3,924-2,462. Their series was the day’s best and moved them into first place for the season. The same was true with their high single game of 1,388.
Top-notch individual performances came from Josh Roth with a 725 series, which included a 256 single game, and Ethan Pash, who kicked in a 692 series and 254 single game. Roth’s 256 is one pin away from fifth best for the season, behind teammate Pash.
Over Christmas break the Varsity Huskies finished second to Hononegah at both the Boylan and O’Fallon Tournaments. The JV Boys Teams were first and fourth at Boylan and they lost in the semi-finals of the O’Fallon event to East.
