Kahok girls grab 5th place in Chicagoland
by Mark Jurgena
The Collinsville girls bowling team had a solid weekend at the annual Plainfield North Strikefest at Town & Country Lanes in Joliet.
CHS shot a total of 5489 finishing 345 pins behind the Strikefest champion Machesney Park (Harlem) and their 5813 total. They took the lead from Rockton (Hononegah) after the second game and never looked back.
Collinsville took fifth place out of 40 teams at the event. They moved up two spots after the turn finishing the morning in the seventh spot.
Mascoutah was second 245 pins behind Harlem with Joliet (West) placing third.
“Strikefest is a decent measuring stick for the teams in the state and our girls did well on a low-scoring pattern,” said CHS coach Sean Hay. “Finishing in fifth when we honestly weren’t at our team best is very encouraging for the rest of the season. Our young team has learned quite a bit and every contest will continue shaping our team for the postseason.”
Caici Buckman backed up her performance from the previous weekend by throwing a career-high 1252 series to take sixth place among 220 bowlers.
She fired a 1205 six-game series at the Abe Lincoln Invite in Springfield last week.
At Strikefest, Buckman fired four games north of 200 at the Joliet event. She had a 224 to start the morning and a 222 to finish the afternoon. She also mixed in a 212 and a 205.
After her morning series of 634 Buckman was in ninth place.
Kahok Kellen Stephens took 12th place with an 1196 series. She had three games above 200 with a high game of 214. She also had a 210 game to go along with a 205 as well.
Laila Jaoko took 38th place for CHS with only one game above 200, that being a 220.
Harlem had the top two individual finalists on the day.
Ashlin Teves won the day shooting a 1323 series while her teammate Allison Roberts finished 42 pins behind. Teves trailed Roberts by three pins heading into the turn.
Dual matches
CHS fell to Alton at home on Dec. 11 by a 27-13 count.
Stephens and her 203 game paced the Kahoks on the evening as did her 544 series.
Collinsville then dropped a 22-18 contest to Belleville East at Camelot Lanes on Dec. 16.
Stephens again had the high series firing a 635 with two games above 200. She rolled a 236 and a 217.
Jaoko fired a 614 series with a high game of 218.
Upcoming Schedule
Collinsville will be in the Alton Invitational at Bowl Haven Lanes in Alton on Saturday then will bowl in the annual Charity Challenge on Monday at Camelot Lanes.
