Home-center edge helps Klemenswicz into finals
BY DALE BOWMAN
For the Sun-Times
Jeff Klemenswicz made the most of his home-center advantage Sunday at Lisle Lanes.
Klemenswicz, an account manager from Woodridge, rolled the men’s high series with a scratch 737 in the Fox Valley Sectional of the 58th Beat the Champions.
Nina Schmelter of Carol Stream, who works for DuPage County Public Health, topped the women’s side with a 770.
‘‘It felt pretty good to come in and defend home turf,’’ said Klemenswicz, who reached the finals for the second time. ‘‘I knew I needed a good third game, and I was able to do it [255].’’
Klemenswicz has bowled at Lisle Lanes since he was 4.
Schmelter, who advanced from Wheaton Bowl, never had bowled at Lisle before, so she practiced there last week and scored poorly.
‘‘I realized my ball wouldn’t work on these lanes,’’ she said. ‘‘So I went out and bought a new ball for this tournament.’’
She had games of 213, 225 and 170 to go with 162 pins of handicap.
In BTC, the charity event operated by the Chicagoland Bowling Proprietors Association, handicap is 90 percent of the difference between a bowler’s average and 220.
Also advancing to the finals in March were Jan Tau of Naperville, who reached the finals once before and won a bowling ball; Vicki Zager, a cook from Wheaton; Tommy Sykes, an auto tech from Rockford who had the high game (290); and Joe Barrile, a truck driver from DeKalb who also reached the finals once before.
In the finals, the top prize for the men and women is $7,500.
The biggest prize in BTC, of which the Sun-Times is a sponsor, is the nearly $2.9 million raised for charity in its first 57 years by nearly 5.8 million entries.