IHSA Girls Bowling State Tournament: Richmond-Burton’s Gina Scichowski takes second place

Richmond-Burton senior Gina Scichowski entered the IHSA Girls Bowling State Tournament with high expectations, and did not come home disappointed.

Scichowski rolled series of 663 and 643 in Saturday’s finals at the Cherry Bowl in Rockford and took second place to Stagg’s Arianna Araujo, who finished with 2,634 pins.

Scichowski rolled 2,597 in her 12 games for second, ahead of Prospect’s Kaitlyn Ruszczak (2,588) and Joliet West’s Ella Steinke (2,586) and Mia Antomez (2,578).

“I was hoping to place first for my senior year, but second’s still good,” Scichowski said. “I was wanting to medal, but I could have seen myself getting first. I had high expectations for myself.”

Scichowski was in fourth after Friday’s rounds with 1,291. Araujo was in second with 1,328.

Scichowski rolled of 257 to start on Saturday, followed by a 223 and 183. She finished with a 199, 227 and 217. She was only 20 pins behind heading into the final game and played in Araujo’s group all day.

“I kept a good head game. Yesterday I got down on myself after my fourth game (175) and I didn’t perform my best,” Scichowski said. “(In the last game) I just wanted to bowl the best that I could. I didn’t know that I was down 20, I wasn’t looking at the scores.”

Scichowski will attend College of Lake County and bowl on its newly formed team next year. She is uncertain of her major field of study, so she plans to work on general education classes and compete.

Steve Brugioni has worked the last three years as Scichowski’s private coach and was thrilled with her state performance.

“She built frames when we couldn’t strike and was just solid,” Brugioni said. “She never got down when we were struggling to find a strike. She was just determined. She’s a very seasoned tournament bowler. She stayed focused.

“She started out pretty strong. That last game, we’re chasing 20 pins. The girl that won had better carry and got a few more strikes than Gina did.”

Scichowski finished 14th in state as a sophomore, but last year missed qualifying when she came down with food poisoning the week before the sectional tournament.

“I was really sick and didn’t bowl that well,” she said. “(This weekend) was awesome. It was definitely a mental game. It was fun.”

Gina Scichowski’s scores from Day 1

Gina Scichowski’s scores from Day 2