Bowling: Plainfield East boys team opens eyes

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Lockport's Brian Hodolitz gets high five's from his teammates after a strike. | Larry Kane~For Sun-Times Media

Updated: January 3, 2012 8:58AM

The Plainfield East boys bowling team is serving notice to the rest of the Southwest Prairie Conference. The Bengals no longer are an afterthought.

Much like Romeoville did a year ago, Plainfield East has established itself after the first three weeks of the league season.

The Bengals have 18 points and are just four points out of the league lead nearing the midway point of the season.

“We’re no longer an afterthought or a gimme 10 points any more,” first-year Plainfield East coach Rich McElmeel said. “We put people on notice against Minooka and against Plainfield South. We threw another 3,000 (vs. Oswego East). If we can get the tournament situation figured out, we’re going to be fine.”

Getting better

The top-ranked Minooka girls bowling team isn’t on top of its game, and that’s just fine with coach Frank Yudzentis.

“We don’t want to be bowling our best in November or December,” Yudzentis said. “And, we’re missing Emily Koulis (broken wrist) right now, but she’ll be back in a couple of weeks. That gives us an opportunity to let some other girls play.

“And, Courtney Johnston isn’t bowling real well right now and she’d be the first to tell you that. She’s got some mechanical issues she’s going to work out in the next couple of weeks.”

The Indians also are working on their stamina.

“A couple of the girls got a little tired at the end (of the Plainfield Central Invitational) and that’s when you have to be a little sharper mentally,” Yudzentis said. “Our teamwork and attitude were real good coming into the tournament. Those are positives we’re going to build on.”

The same can be said of the boys team, which is No. 4 in the Joliet area.

“Coming into the season we knew we were going to be pretty good,” Minooka coach Derrick Rapsky said. “But, it’s still a Jekyll-and-Hyde team. We won the Lake Park Invite pretty handily, by 200 pins, then the next match we had against Plainfield East, we fell apart. It’s like that even in practices.

“But, these guys work pretty hard and are passionate about it. Our two seniors, Grant (Duncan) and Colton (Eining), have really stepped up.”

Eye on the prize

The Lockport boys bowling team doesn’t revel in winning regular-season invitationals, and for good reason.

“Winning invites during the season are nice, but their minds are set on the end of the season,” Lockport coach Jeff Wyatt said of the Porters, who are No. 2 in the Joliet area. “Their minds are on the sectional and state meets. We’ll use these (regular-season invitationals) as learning experiences and go from there.”