Bowling takes on state after 4 years
Trevians finish 18th after record breaking season
The bowling team after a successful run at state in southern IL
On Jan. 31-Feb. 1, boys bowling competed at state for the first time since 2016, placing 18th overall in the tournament held in Fairview Heights, IL.
On Friday, the Trevians failed to make the cut to continue on. To move forward they had to place in the top 12 teams, but their performance at state was still a resounding success.
With a total of 5,867 pins, the team had their highest-scoring performance of the season, and their 18th place finish is the second best in New Trier history.
“We were able to improve on our score from sectionals and bowl our best game of the season, which was awesome,” said Senior Christian Franke. “We would’ve liked to make it to the second day, but being able to say we have the second highest state placement in New Trier [history] is amazing.”
Individually, the team also did well, with a number of bowlers hitting their personal bests during the tournament.
Junior Matt Booden had an especially strong tournament, finishing 11th in the state with a two day average of 218.5 pins which made him the first Trevian bowler to ever be named All State.
“Matt really put together a spectacular performance. He needed to string together strike-after-strike to be able to compete with some record-setting IHSA performances,” said head coach Andrew Juedes.
Getting to state was a roller coaster. After the Elmhurst sectional, they thought that they had fallen out of the top six finish needed to qualify for state. But, when final scores were announced, the team found themselves in 5th place, narrowly defeating Lake Park (6th).
“We edged out GBN, one of our rivals, and were one of only two teams from our conference to qualify for state,” said Junior Nick Henner.
Last year, the team placed 8th at sectionals, just falling short of state. Throughout this entire season, they surpassed the performances of both last year’s team and nearly every team in team history.
“I am incredibly proud of their [the team’s] collective performance this season,” said Juedes.
He added that the Trevs are at a slight disadvantage when facing teams where competitive bowling is a much bigger deal. To Juedes, this makes the strong performance this season becomes even more impressive.
“We compete against athletes thathavebeenbowlingcompetitively since the 2nd grade. Most of our bowlers start bowling [competitively] for the first time their freshman/ sophomore year,” he said.
Moving forward, though, the Trevians seem poised to close the experience gap. This year’s state roster featured Matt Booden (Captain-Jr), Nick Henner (Captain- Jr) Max Blake (Captain-Jr), Jack Eadie (Jr), Christian Franke (Sr), Jack Kelly (Sr), Sam Wolf (Jr), and David Gormanous (Jr).
“This year, six of the bowlers at state were juniors, and if all of us can improve our average by about 15 pins we are capable of placing top five or even winning state,” said Henner.
Next year, the team knows what they need to get to work and execute their plan of improvement.
“Looking ahead to next year, I would like to set a goal of making it to the second day of the tournament as a team,” said Eadie. “I know what we need to work on for next year, and it is exciting.”
Beyond next year, the Trevians look to become stronger over at next few seasons. The class of 2023 is the team’s best freshman class, and, if they put in the work, they could take the program to new heights.
“We set records for highest tryout scores and end of season scores with this group from the class of 2023. We are very excited about the future,” said Juedes.
After their strong performance at state, the team has a lot to celebrate and look forward to moving ahead.
“I’m so excited for next year and the off-season. This season, we finished as the 2nd best bowling team in New Trier history, and next year we should be the best team in New Trier history,” said Henner.