Collinsville boys bowling lands 5th of 20 teams at Harlem Invite
By Mark Jurgena
The Collinsville boys bowling team traveled to Northern Illinois Saturday to take part in the Harlem Invite at Forest Hills Lanes in Loves Park. They came back to the Metro East with a 5th place finish out of 20 teams.
“The boys struggled a bit in the morning, it was just that some execution wasn’t quite where it needed to be,” said Hay. “We’re still medaling and placing in tournaments and doing well. We got fifth at this tournament. This tournament had some quality, quality teams in it for sure. One team just came off a national record-setting setting weekend before. They shot 7,000 for six which is a huge number.”
That team, Rockton (Hononegah) won the event but struggled late and Mascoutah also got them in the end. MHS shot a 6445 for the day to finish only 17 pins behind the Northern opponents.
The Kahoks finished with a 6044 total to claim the fifth spot. They finished behind both the orange and black entries from Loves Park (Harlem).
“We started to put it together toward the back half which is actually what we struggled with in the previous couple of tournaments,” said Hay. “In those, we’ve gotten out of the gates well then kind of tapered off at the end. I think they are getting the concept of how to attack lanes at the end. When lots of other teams were falling off we were starting to score.
“We started the back half ninth or tenth.”
Of the 30 games shot by Collinsville on the day, 15 of them were over 200.
Brandon Campbell took 5th place individually with a 1374 total Saturday. He had a high game of 270 on his fourth game and also put up scores of 259, 231, 217, and 209.
Cole Buckman took 11th place overall with a 1318 six-game set for the day. His high game was a 257 out of the gate with a 237 on the back end. In between, he also shot 214, 211, and 206 for his five games above 200.
Ben Sloan and Mason Foley both had two games above 200. Sloan’s high game was a 235 while Foley rolled a 212 in his final game.
Jacob Taylor had a 221 high game on his fifth of the day.
Brandon West of Mascoutah was the individual champion for the event. He put together 1514 day, averaged 252 per game, and even rolled a 300 once.
Upcoming Schedule:
The Kahoks traveled to Bel-Air Bowl in Belleville to face the Maroons of Belleville West Tuesday and hosted O’Fallon yesterday however results were unavailable at press time. They host Belleville East today at Camelot Lanes. Saturday they travel to Kingpin Lanes in Springfield for the Abe Lincoln Invite.
The Kahoks have also begun taking donations for their annual Charity Challenge. This year they will host the event on Dec. 8 at Camelot Bowl against Taylorville. This year’s charity will be the American Cancer Society.
