Boys Bowling: Romeoville’s Corey McReady in first after first day

Updated: January 27, 2012 7:48PM

Corey McReady went from nearly taking a seat on the bench to sitting on the lead after Friday’s preliminary round of the boys bowling state finals at St. Clair Bowl in O’Fallon.

The Romeoville senior fired a career-high 1,389 series (231.5 average) and will try Saturday to become the first Spartan to win an individual championship. He leads Andrew senior Josh Powell by one pin and C.J. Kirchner of Herrin by five in the closest race in the 10-year history of the tournament. A total of 26 bowlers are within 100 pins of McReady.

“It was a fantastic day,” McReady said. “I didn’t doubt myself but I didn’t expect myself to place. It wasn’t in my dreams to be the guy that cranks out big games left and right.”

McReady struggled to break 200 in his first two games, after which Romeoville coach Tony Talley had him switch balls. The result was a 290 – the highest score of the day – in the third game.

“I think I was one missed 10 pin away from being pulled,” McReady said. “The ball change was huge. It worked really well. As soon as I started hitting the pocket everything came crashing down.”

Like McReady, Powell is trying to become his school’s first state champion. He was 44th after the morning session but roared back with a 750 series in the afternoon.

“I was surprised,” Powell said. “I wasn’t sure how it was going to go in the second session. I’m glad it has worked out the way it has. I was more concerned about the team because that is more important.”

Andrew and Romeoville – which has never won a state title in any sport – are in the title hunt. Andrew is in second place with 6,275 pins, 66 behind O’Fallon and four ahead of Rockton Hononegah. Vernon Hills is fourth with 6,288 and Romeoville is sixth at 6,152.

Andrew is attempting to become the first team to win three state championships. No other school has won more than one.

“I think what helped us this year is that we won the Vernon Hills tournament [in December],” Powell said. “We knew there were a lot of teams there that we would see at state and winning there in a difficult house with a tougher shot just gave us a lot of confidence. It helped us stay calm today.”

The Thunderbolts had no weaknesses as senior Josh Dory (1,250), junior Justin Finnen (1,225), senior Kyle Damon (1,216) and junior Kyle Krol (1,196) all bowled well. Sophomore Dakota Vostry (1,239) and senior Will Thompson (1,237) were the other standouts for Romeoville, which has a habit of coming from behind.

“I really do like our chances,” Talley said. “We can strike with the best in the state, but the difference tomorrow is going to be spare shooting. We missed a lot of spares today, but we also struck a lot. If we had made our spares we’d be in the top three.”

Senior Sam Fink led the way for Vernon Hills with a fourth-place 1,374, while Lake Zurich junior Mike Schmitt, the 2011 runner-up, is fifth with 1,358. Richards junior David Walker is seventh (1,351), Young junior Willard Fountain eighth (1,350) and Lincoln-Way East junior Brandon Nathan 10th (1,346).

The other area teams who advanced to Saturday’s finals were 2009 champion Lake Park (seventh, 6,118), Richards (eighth, 6,089), Lake Zurich (ninth, 6,088), St. Charles North (11th, 6,070) and Plainfield Central (6,040).

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.