Youngsters have solid showing

HOBART — Youth was served at Saturday’s ninth annual Post-Tribune Luise Lesser Memorial Youth Scholarship Tournament.

Well, even more than usual.

Yes, the only bowlers competing are kids, but it’s usually the high school standouts who attend and eventually shine, such as boys champion Matt Staninger, who was a Highland High standout before heading to Marian University.

But girls champion Laura LeVander is just an eighth grader who will be bowling for Lake Central in the fall. And she wasn’t alone as a middle-school bowler competing against the older kids.

At only 13 years old, Jonathan Bugno had his mom, Cindy, worried he would be overwhelmed around the big boys. But he welcomed the challenge.

“He told me, ‘Mom, it will be a good experience and I can learn from it’,” Cindy said.

He did finish two places from the bottom of the 54-boy field, but his low game of 116 was higher than the low game of seven other older boys in the tournament.

Andy Schmied, who is also an eighth-grader set to join Lake Central’s growing ranks in the fall, finished 13th on Saturday.

Third generation P-T bowler: Kankakee Valley’s Ryan Postma did well in his first P-T youth tourney, finishing 17th. But it shouldn’t be a surprise considering his family’s bowling prowess.

His dad, Bruce, cashed in last year’s P-T men’s tourney in 12th place while his grandmother (Bruce’s mom) Sandy has won the P-T women’s title three times, and she also cashed in last year’s P-T women’s tourney in ninth place.

Ryan shot a 499 on the tough Letter “I” oil pattern, resulting in Bruce hoping for better luck for the P-T Men’s Awards Tournament.

“I hope this isn’t the shot in two weeks,” he joked.

No, it won’t be Bruce.

‘I’ stands for difficult: Speaking of the Letter “I” pattern, the girls had a little better success on the lane condition than the boys.

There were twice as many boys entries than girls, but only two more games of 200 or higher by boys than girls (eight to six). And only three of those 200s for the boys were 210 or higher, while the girls had four games of 210 or more.

“That doesn’t surprise me,” said Calumet College men’s coach Mike Kubacki, who was on hand to scout possible recruits. “(The girls) are able to play straighter and throw it slower.”

That’s because the “I” has high oil volume and stretches 44 feet down the lane, which can wreak havoc on boys who tend to hook the ball more and throw harder.

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