Swanson Scores Second Trip To IHSA Bowling Finals

Anthony Swanson just missed bringing home a state medal from the Illinois High School Association state bowling finals last year.

He doesn’t plan to come home without one again.

The Evanston sophomore punched a ticket to the IHSA tournament for the second year in a row --- a first in program history --- by earning second place overall at the Vernon Hills Sectional tournament Saturday.

Swanson claimed an at-large individual qualifying berth with a six-game pinfall of 1,397 that trailed only sectional champion Lucas Drisdel of Lane Tech at 1,415.

Swanson’s total was good enough to make him one of the five automatic qualifiers as individuals who didn’t qualify with their full teams. That was the bittersweet portion of Saturday’s tournament for the Wildkits, who needed a top four finish to keep their season alive but instead placed fifth as a team.

With one of their top scorers, junior Michael Conroy, sidelined by the flu, Evanston’s team score suffered. Mundelein captured the final team qualifying spot with a score of 5,992 to Evanston’s 5,872 in the 12-team field.

Also advancing were champion Vernon Hills (6,238), Lane Tech (6,166) and Glenbrook North (6,084).

Swanson scored his best six-game set of the season, a full 100 points better than his series’ at the state finals a year ago that earned him a 13th place overall. It was the best finish in school history --- and something for the sophomore standout to build on.

Saturday, he fired games of 208, 265, 249, 224, 235 and 216 in a sizzling performance that adds his name to the short list of contenders to battle for the top spots at the two-day IHSA finals set for next Friday and Saturday at St. Clair Bowl in downstate O’Fallon.

And the best is yet to come for a rising star in the sport who earlier in the season recorded a perfect 300 game in competition.

“The lanes (at the Vernon Hills Bowlero) were pretty tough,” Swanson said. “You always have to make adjustments in a tournament like that and it just seemed like I was able to make all the right moves. I tried to see what some of the other bowlers were doing and tried to copy them. Around the fourth or fifth game I saw that a bunch of them were playing straight lines and I decided I needed to do that, too.

“I was expecting to bowl maybe a 1,320 to 1,350 and it seemed like it would be a really big stretch to get to the score I got (1,397). I think I really handled adversity pretty well. I think I’m more consistent this year than last year, when I had a lot of ups and downs. I’m picking up more spares and this year my lowest scores were in the 180s, where they were in the 160s last year. When I miss, I just try to reset and focus on picking up spares.

“At State, I’m thinking I really want to end up in the top 10 this year --- maybe even in the top 5. Last year I was one pin away from winning a medal, but I think if I bowl good enough this year, I can aim for the top 10 or top 5. I think I’ve shown that I’m good enough to do that.”

“I am definitely so proud of Anthony,” said Evanston head coach Harold Bailey. “We’ve built a trust between us and I think the sky’s the limit for him. It’s the first time we’ve ever had someone make it back to back and that’s a great accomplishment.

“Anthony has matured so much this year. I challenged him at the start of the year about being so competitive that he’d take himself out of the game (mentally) when he didn’t get a strike. Then he’d come back and miss the spare, too. I said I want you to be the best spare shooter you can be. And I’d say he’s made about 90 percent of them this season. Sometimes, when you’re not striking, you just have to fill the frames.

“But I would have liked to get there with the whole team and I feel bad for the seniors (Kaelexx Oats and Augie Ommen). We were doing well at the break (after three games) and we were in fourth place. Then we just didn’t pick up enough spares. This was their last hurrah, and they almost made it to the final weekend.”

Oats’ six-game total of 1,282 included games of 234, 236, 202, 225 and 225. But he only mustered a 160 in Game 5 and that proved costly.

The Wildkits also counted a 1,161 from Ommen, a 1,078 from freshman Shane Asbra, and a 954 from junior Miles Gieraltowski.

“We tried to piece things together without Conroy,” Bailey noted. “Every one of the other teams was watching us after the break because they knew at any time we could break out. I thought Kaelexx was on a good track to get in, but he had that one game that was low and it was an uphill climb for him after that.

“Augie Ommen was outstanding for us all year and he did the best he could Saturday. I wish I could have thrown a ball and got a strike for them so they could get that State experience. We just fell short.”