Boys bowling: Minooka, Lincoln-Way West, Lockport going to state

JOLIET – Saturday’s Plainfield North boys bowling sectional at Town and Country Lanes had two familiar schools, along with a historic first, qualify as teams for the boys state bowling finals.

Minooka won the title, its third in the last four years, with a six-game total of 6,179, while Lockport placed fourth with a 6,009. Both schools will be making their fifth consecutive state trip next Friday and Saturday at St. Clair Bowl in O’Fallon. The top six teams, along with the top seven individuals who are not on a qualifying team, will earned a trip.

The story of the day was Lincoln-Way West, as it finished second with a 6,078 series and qualified for the first time in school history as a team.

“This feels great,” first-year West coach Scott Ullian said. “Our goal at the beginning of the season was exactly this, qualify for the state finals. This team has fun together, their chemistry is great. They bowl so well together, we have fun, work hard and really enjoy each other.”

In addition to the team qualifying, Warriors senior Eric Ullian was the individual champion with a 1,425 over the six games. If the name looks familiar, it is, as he is the coach’s son on West’s squad.

“I’m pretty emotional right now,” the elder Ullian said. “I’m so proud that Eric can finish his high school career like this with the team. He bowled well today.”

Eric was just as excited as his father in talking about this entire season.

“This feels better than anything I have ever done,” he said. “It means so much to qualify as a team. Our chemistry is so good and that is what got us in this position. We might have had better talent in other years, but we did this today, together as a team. My dad has always been my coach, so I don’t look at it any differently. He is the coach of our team.”

Minooka is a veteran squad and was led by the fourth-place finish of Jon Studer (1,337).

“I’m so proud of our seniors, their leadership and how they have grown,” Minooka coach Derrick Rapsky said. “We rolled the ball pretty well today and victories in tournaments haven’t come easy this year. But you always want to be bowling your best at this time of year. We missed some easy spares, but everyone can say that. We just kept grinding today.”

Lockport, which graduated a majority of its team from last year, came a long way during the season. The Porters were lead by junior Alec Buchhaas, who finished 16th overall (1,254).

“At the beginning of the season, I never thought we would be in this position,” Lockport coach Ron Davis said. “I have good kids, they listen and learn. I’m ecstatic that we qualified again. These kids have put in the work and it is no different than any other sport. You have to work at whatever you do to be successful.”

The other qualifying teams were Morgan Park (third), Sandburg (fifth) and Oak Forest (sixth).

Bolingbrook finished seventh, bowling the high game of the day (1,128) in the sixth, to miss by only 24 pins. Lincoln-Way Central was ninth and Joliet West finished 12th.

Leading the four individual qualifiers from the area was Bolingbrook’s Alex Acosta, who finished third with a 1,352. Plainfield North’s Jack Baggs was eighth (1,305), Romeoville’s Jacob Hubbs took 10th (1,272) and Lincoln-Way East’s Colton Marks finished 11th (1,267) to grab the final qualifying spot.

Providence Catholic’s Jordan Chavez (1,265) finished 12th overall and in eighth as an individual. The ninth individual was Lincoln-Way Central’s Jack Davern (1,257). Those two will now play the waiting game as the IHSA will select two individuals from the nonqualifying individuals throughout the state to make the trip to the state finals.