Bowling: Three make cut for Chesterton in singles
By Steve T. Gorches 648-3141 or sgorches@post-trib.com February 9, 2013 6:40PM
Updated: February 10, 2013 1:46AM
SOUTH BEND — Neither Chesterton bowling team — boys or girls — advanced to Saturday’s South Bend Semistate out of regional. But the three individuals who advanced in singles kept rolling all the way to next week’s state finals.
On the boys side, Trojans senior Nate Sipe needed a little luck to hang onto one of the top 12 advancing spots.
“I left a 3-6-10 and chopped the 3-pin straight back, but it bounced out and got the 6-10,” he said with a sheepish smile before realizing his 602 series was just 10 pins ahead of 13th place. “I had these guys with me, so it was all cool.”
Well, not exactly “guys,” but he got support from two girls who also advanced to their first state finals in their first full seasons on the bowling team.
Sectional and regional champ Candice Tovo didn’t earn another first-place medal, but the senior tied for seventh. She was tied with sophomore teammate Heidi Tucker with a 568 series.
Tovo is in her first year in high school bowling after being on the swimming team last year. Tucker was only on the team for part of the season, but is happy she came back full-time.
“At first I was a little nervous today, but once I got going it was good,” Tucker said.
“It definitely helped having teammates around me,” Tovo added.
Two other girls with even more teammates around them during singles were Lake Central’s Allison Sellers, Boone Grove’s Paige Kraushaar and Portage’s Jackie Rhoda, who earned the top three seeds, respectively. All three of their squads were in the team event later in the day.
In the stepladder finals, Rhoda won her first match, but lost to Kraushaar, who in turn defeated Sellers 200-175 to take her first semistate title.
“I got lucky that second game,” Kraushaar said. “My dad (coach Mike Kraushaar) told me to switch balls and I did. “It’s nice to make it as an individual, but I’d rather make it as a team.”
That last statement turned out to be a premonition.
Other region boys to advance to their first state finals were Hobart’s Bobby Kammer and Portage’s Jordan Trent, while Sellers’ LC teammate Kierstyn Rush and her fellow WestLake Conference bowler Carly Larson of Merrillville also made it to state.
