Girls Bowling: Upstart Waubonsie Valley keeps rolling

Before this season, the Waubonsie Valley girls bowling team had never won a tournament.

Now the Warriors seem to do nothing but win. After a regular season that included an undefeated run to the Upstate Eight Conference title and championships in four of the six major tourneys it entered, Waubonsie Valley bested a 17-team field that included the top four teams in the state to win the Plainfield South Sectional Saturday at Town and Country Lanes in Joliet.

The Warriors will be one of the top contenders at next week’s state finals at Cherry Bowl Lanes in Rockford after knocking down 5,930 pins to edge Oswego East by 17 pins.

“It was a bunch of hard work,” Waubonsie Valley sophomore Julia Bond said. “We were always the first team to get there and the last to leave, so we never let up.”

Bond and junior Charley Barbary led the way for the Warriors by shooting six-game totals of 1,277 to tie Lockport junior Briana Zabierek for third place in the individual standings.

“It’s crazy,” Barbary said. “We’ve worked so hard we’ve really earned this, but it’s still hard to believe.”

Sophomore Rachael Felton (1,157), senior Kaylene Felton (1,111) and junior Marianna Guerrieri (1,108) also contributed for Waubonsie, which took the lead for good with a 1,052 total in the second game and held off Oswego East, which finished with a 1,020 to secure the other state berth.

Oswego East, which beat third-place Lockport by 172 pins, was led by junior Giselle Poss, who won the individual crown with a 1,355 series, which included games of 227, 256 and 236 in the afternoon.

It was the continuation of a great season for Poss, who last month fired an incredible 1,517 series, which included her third 300 game of the year, at the Morris Invitational.

“It feels really good to win,” Poss said. “The feeling is just incredible to know that there’s three, four, or five even, great teams here that are top in state. We were really pushing all year to go to state since we didn’t go last year. We were pushing every single girl.”

For the Wolves, getting through the tough draw came down to mental, as well as physical, preparation.

“We’ve been practicing and visualizing good shots every night and being able to pick up spares,” Poss said. “Going in you know you have to do well against all these other teams.”

Junior Tricia Thornton (1,173), senior Brenda Neid (1,120), senior Mary Atchley (1,004) and sophomore Kailey Kopacz (911) were Oswego East’s other starters.

Zabierek and Oswego sophomore Cheyanne Valdez, who took second with 1,287, earned the two automatic individual state berths.

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