Bulldog Sports Wrap
By Mark Jurgena
Boys Bowling State Bound!
The Highland boys bowling team competed at the Alton Sectional on January 22nd at Bowl Haven Lanes and climbed from 11th place all the way to fifth place in the standings. The top six teams along with the seven top bowlers from non-qualifying teams advance to the IHSA state tournament this weekend at St. Clair Bowl in O’Fallon.
Heading into their sixth and final game of the day, the Bulldogs sat 126 pins from that coveted sixth place spot which at the time was held by Southwestern Conference Tournament and regular season champion O’Fallon.
Highland rolled a whopping series of 1,117 for that last game to vault them past the Panthers and also the highly touted team from Salem. Their round was so good that they jumped another SWC school Belleville East up into the fifth spot. For the day they finished with a pinfall total of 5,938.
Waterloo won the 16-team sectional with a 6,239 day. Mascoutah was second with Collinsville coming in third place. Herrin placed fourth.
Senior Logan Oestringer had an outstanding day firing a 1,340 six game set which was good enough for third place in the individual standings. He totaled four games over 200 including 261, 255, 234, and 227.
Oestringer finished 36 pins out of first place. Zach Ludwig of Mater Dei took top honors with 1,376.
Senior Hunter Hediger rolled a 1,281 to finish in 14th spot overall. He also had four games over 200 as well. He had a 245, 230, 224, and 203 games on the day.
Junior Jacob Gilomen had games of 234, 212, 208, and 204 to tally 1,225 pins. He finished in 28th place.
Other bowlers at the event were Cole Korte with a four-game total of 732 including a 234 game and Talon Vrell with a four-game 696 score including a 203 game.
Josh Athmer shot a two game 364 with a high of 205 while Blake Ernst had a two game tally of 300.
Highland qualified for the sectional by placing fourth at the Triad Regional on January 17th. O’Fallon won the team title.
Gilomen had a 1,248, Hediger fired a 1,201, and Oestringer had an 1,137. Vrell fired a 1,099 while Korte shot a 1,067.
The state tourney takes place this Friday and Saturday.
Ice Hockey
Highland had a rough week of action in MVCHA play. They squared off with the top teams in each division and were soundly beaten twice.
They fell to Freeburg/Waterloo on January 20th at Granite City. Dominick Emig had three points on the night including a goal. Dylan Kreke scored also with Abe and Blaise Hawkins recording one goal each.
On January 18th they were shut out by Varsity West Division leader Granite City at the East Alton Ice Arena.
Highland is in second place in the west with 22 points. Granite leads the way with 37 points.
Dance Team Qualifies for State!
In the IHSA sectional at Mascoutah, the Bulldogs Competitive Dance team took the title in the competition. They were in the Class1A-1 sectional and came out in first place with a score of 86.30. Marion finished second with 84.82 points while Triad came in third with an 84.73.
HHS performs tomorrow (Friday) morning at 10:27 AM. The competition will be held at Grossinger Motors Arena in Bloomington and concludes Saturday.
