IESA Headlines

2013 IESA Bowling State Tournament

Students from Illinois Elementary School Association (IESA) member schools will compete in the third annual Bowling State Tournament at Town and Country Lanes in Joliet on March 22 & 23. There will be 281 students who will make the trip to compete in the event this weekend. A complete listing of the participating students is located on the IESA website at: http://www.iesa.org/activities/bo/lanes.asp?Year=2013.

The IESA Bowling State Tournament will serve as the largest known Scratch Varsity Middle School event in the country.

The tournament consists of a boys and girls division. All participants will compete in the preliminary round on Friday and will each bowl four games. The top 56 boys and top 56 girls, based on total pinfall, will advance to the final rounds on Saturday afternoon. Results will be available immediately on www.iesa.org after the completion of each round. The finals will consist of two rounds of three games each and the awards will be given based on the 10-game combined total. New in 2013 will be the implementation of the team awards, with teams consisting of up to four bowlers. All schools will be eligible for team awards, with the top three teams receiving trophies. The total cumulative pinfall throughout the entire tournament will be counted for each school participating in the boys and girls divisions.

The preliminary round on Friday is scheduled to begin at 9:25 a.m. for the boys and 1:45 p.m. for the girls. On Saturday, round two (Finals) will begin at 9:45 a.m., with the third round (Finals) scheduled to begin 45 minutes following the completion of round two. The awards ceremony will take place after the last round has been completed on Saturday. The complete tournament schedule is located found on the IESA website at: http://www.iesa.org/documents/activities/IESA-BO_Schedule.pdf.

Complete tournament information, plus the FanZone can be found at www.iesa.org. Click on the Bowling line at the top of the IESA website home page.

Should weather become a factor, the IESA website will contain up-to-date information regarding the tournament playing schedule. Go to www.iesa.org.

The price of admission Friday is $5.00 for adults and $2.00 for seniors (62 and over) and students (K-8) and is good for all day Friday. Children younger than kindergarten are admitted free. The price of admission for the session Saturday will be $7.00 for adults and $3.00 for seniors and students (K-8). Children younger than kindergarten again are admitted free.

The 2012 Boys Individual Champion, Minooka's Kae Devine, returns to the state tournament as an 8th grader hoping to defend his crown. Devine not only took home the gold last year, but also set the record for the Highest Game in the history of the tournament after bowling a 279. Ryan Bovee of Cahokia Wirth also returns a year removed from capturing third place in the Boys Division. Barrington Prairie's Sarah Tenyer is the lone participant returning in the Girls Division who placed in the top five a year ago. Tenyer tallied 1907 total pins in 2012 en route to earning third.

For more information, please contact IESA Assistant Executive Director and Bowling Administrator John Venerable at john@iesa.org.