It’s the one tournament each year that brings all of the local schools together. A competition amongst friends.

“I think the kids have more fun with this than some of the bigger tournaments,” said Waterloo High School bowling coach Matt Beck. “It’s more personal.”

The fourth annual Monroe County Cup bowling tournament packed the lanes at West Park Bowl in Columbia on Saturday. Waterloo, Gibault and Columbia High School varsity and junior varsity, boys and girls teams competed in a two-session show-down.

The teams competed, first, in a traditional individual bowl that amounts to a team’s final score, followed by 16 baker games where one bowler per team bowls two frames in a true team competition. The winners of the Monroe County Cup are then based on the total pins for the day, combining the morning traditional bowl with the afternoon team baker games.

Taking this year’s cup were the two undefeated teams in the area.
The Waterloo boys varsity team (5-0) took first place (6,268), with Columbia (4-1) coming in second (5,892) and Gibault (3-3) in third (5,315).

“(The tournament) is a good indicator of where we are individually and as a team,” said Beck. “I’m pretty confident we can stay on top the rest of the season.”

The undefeated Columbia girls varsity team (4-0) took first (5,247), with Waterloo (2-3) coming in second (4,802) and Gibault (4-2) in third (4,361).

“On the girls side, I think we can continue with this momentum all season,” said Columbia bowling coach Kevin Nowak. “For the boys, it was a bit of a wake-up call. It shows us we can still struggle against those larger teams.”

Waterloo’s Michael McGarry (638 series) took first place for the boys tournament. Columbia’s Blake Meyer came in second by just five pins, while Waterloo’s Tyler McIver took third (631). Gibault’s Austin Doerr came in fourth (608) and Waterloo’s Hayden Bode took home fifth place (593).

“It offers a glimpse of hope going into the second half of the season facing some of the lower-par teams before we face the bigger teams,” said Beck, adding that the Bulldog boys have defeated all the top teams in the conference so far this season in Highland, Mascoutah and Jerseyville.

Columbia’s Miranda Rodenhofer (593) took home the first place trophy in the girls tournament. Her teammates, Raven Kohlenberger (543), Becca Krebel (519) and Allie Eckert (516) came in second, third and fourth place, respectively. Waterloo’s Gabbie Hoge (513) rounded out the top five.

Nowak also said the tournament is not only to bring the three area teams together in friendly competition but also to give back to West Park Bowl, who donates the facility to all the schools’ program needs.

“It’s to pay the bowling center back for what they do for us all year,” Nowak added.

The teams all competed on Tuesday night, with Columbia taking on Cahokia at Cahokia, Gibault at home against Mater Dei and Waterloo on the road against Metro East Lutheran. The results were not available by press time.

To view the official results from the tournament, click below.

Monroe_County_Cup_12-08-2012

To view and purchase photos from the event, click here.