Eye on Libertyville High School Sports

This boys bowling team might bear watching this winter. First Jack Baumruk had a good start. .

Now Jake Thompson is making news. This Libertyville athlete of the week has joined Schmidt in the school record books; he recorded games of 246, 242 and 215 last week, adding up to 703. The junior is the first Libertyville bowler to record a 700 series.

“It’s been mostly coaching and practice,” Thompson said. “That 703 is good but I can do better.”

Thompson is well aware he’s not the only talented bowler on this squad.

“We are probably the best since I’ve been here as long as we bowl to our ability,” he said. “We just all have to stay together.”

Thompson would like to take bowling to college. It’s clear this junior loves playing this game.

“Bowling is about 70 percent skill and 30 percent mental,” he said. “I love bowling.”

Despite Thompson’s heroics last week, the Wildcats did drop this match to a very strong Vernon Hills squad. Schmidt rolled a 653 series highlighted by a 256 but the Cats fell 3,113 to 2,898.

Girls Basketball:

Good programs reload every year. But, there was no doubt the Libertyville girls basketball team had plenty of spots to fill when stars Savannah Trees, Kaca Savatic and Olivia Wilcox departed for college.

The new Wildcats began slowly this winter, but the team is beginning to pick off some key victories. On Saturday, Libertyville (12-3) beat a very good Vernon Hills squad 41-38.

“I thought we did a good job of executing on defense,” said Libertyville coach Kathie Swanson. “That was the difference in the end. Vernon Hills has some very talented, versatile players so this game posed some match-up problems. Overall, it was a good win against a quality opponent.”

In the most recent win on Wednesday night, the Cats avenged that last-season ending loss to Zion-Benton. In the 47-46 win over the Zee-Bees, Alex Haley led the way with 17 points. Also helping in the scoring department was Eileen Knauff (10 points), Nicole Kruckman (8 points) and Haley Hoeksel (8 points).

Boys Basketball: These Wildcats won’t go unbeaten this year, but no worries. Last Friday’s overtime battle with Stevenson shows this Libertyville squad is a good one. The Cats first loss of the season was a 69-62 overtime loss to the Patriots.

Anthony Mack’s 3-pointer pushed this game into the overtime session. Griffin Pils led the Wildcats with 26 points.

Wrestling: The Wildcats had no trouble with Lake Forest last week, beating the Scouts 78-6. The competition increases this week with the 32-team Harlem Tournament.

Gymnastics: Credit the balance beam for this narrow win. Libertyville edged Warren last week 143.75 to 141. On beam, it was a clean sweep. Lindsay Schweitzer (9.2), Jenna Dunsing (9.0) and Rachel Metcalf (9.0) ran the table. Schweitzer also won the floor exercise (9.5) and took home all-around honors as well (36.35).

Mariah Lee won uneven bars (9.3). Schweitzer (8.8) and Dunsing (8.7) followed in this event.

Dunsing was second in all-around (36.1) and Lee was third (36.0).