Boys bowling rolled its way to 9th place in Glenbard East sectional on Sat., Jan. 21. They scored 5540 points, ahead of Chicago schools including Taft, Mt. Carmel, and St. Patrick.

This came a week after New Trier finished third in the Chicago Taft regional. They finished behind Glenbrook North and Notre Dame high schools.

Only the top teams from each tournament move on. While New Trier advanced to sectionals, the team failed to advance to state, though team member Kalani Kona Rennoe qualified as an individual.

“Third place at regionals was expected for us. We had just won the Central Suburban League conference and were bowling some of our best games as a team,” said Head Coach Andrew Juedes.

“We started the season not doing as well as we expected but towards the middle and end of our season we peaked and started to do great as a team,” said senior Kalani Kona Rennoe. Rennoe came in 8th place, scoring 1237 points individually.

He explained that this was a great performance compared to previous years he has been on the team.

Despite this, Rennoe was mildly disappointed in his own final performance. “I didn’t do as well as I hoped, [but] it was a fun experience being able to go.”

Rennoe had moved to the area from Hawaii before high school, and joined the team as a way to make friends and get involved in his new school.

Junior Benji Buckner reflected  positively on the season, “It was an amazing experience.”

He also stated his eagerness to try out for the team next year, and his hope to do even better in the future.

Junior Ryder Vassilos felt similarly. He explained that the team was very proud of Rennoe’s, success, identifying him as the team’s MVP. He summarized his experience this season saying, “the season was great.”

Like Buckner, Vassilos seemed excited to try out again next year. He looked forward to rejoining the tight-knit community of the bowling team.

Despite being the top scorer at sectionals, Vassilos came in second out of New Trier students.

Scoring 1171 points, he was beat by senior Jordan Wilson (1147) and was ahead of junior Jeremy Cunningham Kasper (1147).

Glenbard East is considered a “very competitive” IHSA sectional, and though the team did not advance to the state competition, the bowlers seemed proud of the results that the team was able to produce this year.

“This group supported one another in some very trying situations this year,” said head coach Andrew Juedes.

In particular, he expressed his pride in one senior captain who came to practice daily to help out despite being unable to compete for his second season as he recovered from illness.

Additionally, team cohesion was evident as seven team members drove in an RV for over five hours to cheer on Rennoe at the state competition.

Junior Jeremy Cunningham Kasper said that the season was a good experience all around, saying “I enjoyed every minute of it.”

This was his first year on varsity, and he proved his worth with his performance at sectionals.

Juedes said “Jeremy really stepped up his game after bowling in leagues in the off-season” and that Kasper was a team member who performed particularly well this season.

“I feel that playing against these high ability bowlers has really pushed me to be my best and to compete every day as best I can,” said Kasper.

Juedes also mentioned the improvement of seniors Jack Grosh and Dylan Santacruz after they sought out lessons outside of season.

Aidan Rico, a freshman, made the varsity lineup and competed in the regional and sectional competitions.

“Rico has a very bright future in front of him,” said Juedes.

Despite not making it to state like last year, Juedes expressed pride with the term’s performance this year and in all the bowlers.

“Although it still kills me that we didn’t qualify as a team with this great group of bowlers, what they accomplished outside of the alley was more important.”