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Girls Bowling: Grayslake North girl wins individual competition
| Rob Dicker~Sun-Times Media
Updated: December 29, 2011 11:48PM
There are two keys to winning an individual title at a high-school girls bowling tournament:
■ You need at least one outstanding game
■ You can’t go low -- even one game -- as that will wipe out the one out-of-the-norm high score
Grayslake North freshman Sarah Littleton followed that formula perfectly on Thursday at the 12-team Grayslake North Invitational prep girls bowling tournament at Lakes Bowl in Round Lake.
And as a result, when the early leader folded late, Littleton wound up champ in a field of approximately 70 girls.
Littleton’s big game came early, a 247 in the first of a six-game tourney.
But the real key was that her other five games ranged from 172-206, giving here a 1,196 pin count (199 average) for the day.
Laura Crocker of team champion St. Charles East was way ahead after a 670 three-game series to start. But after a 196, she finished with 131 and 170 — 29 pins behind Littleton.
Grant junior Sami Jo Zak was third with a 193 average, and Antioch’s Stevie Lindberg was fourth with a 192 average.
St. Charles East won the team scoring by 99 pins over Wauconda, with Antioch, Vernon Hills and Grant rounding out the top five.
Littleton’s career best is a 288 game, and she said she’s still focused on “perfecting” her game.
“My personal goal is to bowl a 300 game,” she said. “Sectionals, state ... that’s not in my mind right now.”
“I’m worrying about ‘now,’ what I need to do to improve my game. I need to work on slowing down and getting under the ball. That will give me more hook and a larger margin for error.”
Grayslake’s lineup includes a freshman, sophomore, junior and two seniors.
Youngster Littleton loves the direction the team is headed.
“We have a lot of fun together. We tease each other a lot, but it’s all in good fun,” she said. “We’re excited about where things are going.
“We want to keep getting better and hopefully make a good showing when sectionals come around.”
The area program on the rise is Wauconda, which currently is tied for first in the North Suburban Conference.
“They’re taking it more seriously. They’ve been working hard, and they really want to win,” said Bulldog coach Mindy Lorence of her girls. “ Everyone on the team has improved their average by at least 20-25 this year, which is outstanding.
“Our goal is to improve on what we accomplished last year. We’d really like to win the conference this year.”
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