Some of the big guns from last season are gone, but the Belleville West boys bowling team still has plenty of ammunition.
West placed eighth at the state tournament with senior Matt Warnecke finishing fifth as an individual. Graduation losses also included two-time sectional champion Alex Jones and leadoff bowler Eric Silch.
The Maroons, though, still have a strong nucleus, including seniors Allen Bux, Steven Day and Chris Brenner.
"Allen Bux is our anchor bowler and Steven Day is showing great progress," said coach Dennis Erlich, in his fourth season at West. "Chris Brenner is the tall guy of the bowling team and looks like he should playing basketball, but he's really been bowling great."
Juniors Jake Shellabarger and Nate Burckhardt round out the top five, with Burckhardt taking over in the leadoff position.
"We have a couple other juniors, Austin Lawrence and Brendan Heidenfelder, who are consistently averaging close to 200," said Erlich, whose also has a pair of talented sophomores in Matt Klotz and Brandon Jones.
West took a 3-0 record into Monday's home match against Collinsville. The Maroons were scheduled to play host to Granite City on Tuesday and will be the visiting team for Wednesday's match against Belleville East at Bel-Air Bowl.
On Saturday, West finished first among 10 teams at the Harrisburg Tournament. Brenner (1,302) had the top pin total for the Maroons, followed by Burckhardt (1,235) and Bux (1,103). Lawrence shot a team-high game of 246, while Brenner had a 244.
"Our goal is to keep improving," said Erlich, a former head coach at Edwardsville. "Hopefully we'll become one of the better teams in the Southwestern Conference, but that's down the road."
West's girls, meanwhile, finished last season on a disappointing note as they failed to qualify for state in a sectional held at Scott Force Base. MacKenzie Biegler, the team's lone senior, did qualify as an individual.
"Everyone else is back and (senior) Amanda Quirin is doing a real good job this year," Erlich said. "We also have a bunch of good juniors. Bri Ackerman leads off for us and Emily Consevage is a solid second bowler. Katlyn Loesche is our anchor bowler and Paige Shackelford is in the fourth spot."
Other players competing for varsity positions include senior Amanda Van, junior Samantha Kohnen, sophomore Kennedy Walton and freshman Nikki Dunn.
Like the boys, the girls took a 3-0 dual match record into this week. West also won the Collinsville Kahok Challenge on Nov. 27.
"One of our goals is to qualify for state as a team," Erlich said. "If we keep getting better though January and into February, we can do it."
