Halvorsen, Jakubiak reach finals with sectional wins Fox Valley
Eric Halvorsen of Chicago threw nearly perfectly Sunday, other than leaving a 2-10 split in his first frame and tossing a gutter ball on a photo op afterward.
Otherwise, he rolled consistently in topping the men’s side of the Section 1 sectional of Beat the Champions with a 729 at Classic Bowl in Morton Grove.
Amy Jakubiak of Chicago made the women’s finals a family affair by rolling a 749. She will join daughter Stephanie Jakubiak, who advanced Saturday.
‘‘It was awesome,’’ Amy Jakubiak said. ‘‘It was nice and oiled for me. Oil was just perfect.’’
She opened with a 246 and ‘‘ knew it was going to be a good [day].’’ She added games of 205 and 193 to go with 105 pins of handicap.
‘‘It was a nice in-and-out line,’’ said Halvorsen, a yacht captain at Navy Pier. ‘‘I hit my second arrow every time.’’
Making only minor adjustments, he opened and closed with 237 games to go with a 210 game and a handicap of 45.
Also advancing to the men’s finals were Chicago retiree Gary Wade, Round Lake Park referral specialist Marty Nelson III and Elk Grove sheet-metal salesman Dave Gustafson.
Gurnee office manager Helen Gradowski and Cary administrative assistant Laurel Larsen also advanced to the women’s finals, where the top prize is a 2013 Ford automobile.
But the biggest winner in BTC is charity, with 5,657,412 entries raising $2,783,374.87 in the first 51 years the event has been co-sponsored by the Sun-Times and the Chicagoland Bowling Proprietors Association.
Scratch bowler Kyle Lane hasn’t found it easy to advance in Beat the Champions, considering he doesn’t get any handicap added to his score.
But Lane finally broke through when he won the Fox Valley sectional at Poplar Creek Bowl in Hoffman Estates with a three-game score of 705. He reached the men’s finals for the first time since he began entering the event about five years ago.
‘‘I’ve been scratch for a while, so it’s every bit [as tough],’’ Lane said. ‘‘I know handicap is the killer, but you’ve just got to come out and play. I’ve got to go above average, like everybody else.’’
Sandra A. Dekoj topped the women’s side with a 764.
‘‘During practice, I just wanted to get lined up to make the best shots,’’ she said. ‘‘You just need to focus in on your shots and block out everything else that is around you.’’
The most excitement of the day came when Stacy Royalty, a scratch bowler who finished second among the women, bowled a 300 in her final game.
‘‘[I] just remember up there when I get on the lane, ‘Take it nice and easy, follow through and see what happens,’ ’’ Royalty said.