Prokash, Beeck top- notch
SECTION 2 AND FOX VALLEY SECTIONALS
For the Sun- Times
It was all about adjustments for Matt Prokash on Sunday. And he showed the ability to conform.
Prokash was not able to participate in his early- morning league at Wood Dale Bowl because he had qualified for the Section 2 sectional of the 57th Beat the Champions at Elk Grove Bowl. After his first ball at Elk Grove left one pin standing, Prokash, a sales engineer from Northbrook, made a slight change.
“I moved just a little,’’ he said. “It was a nice adjustment.’’
A nice adjustment indeed for Prokash, who, after picking up the spare, rattled off 11 consecutive strikes to finish with a 290 game. He followed with games of 279 and 278 to win the sectional with a scratch 847.
“I am still shaking,’’ Prokash said. “After I got the carry, it was fun.’’
On the women’s side, Danielle Beeck, a pharmacy tech from Hodgkins, was the top finisher with a 769 on games of 198, 236 and 246 to add to her 89 handicap.
“I just tried to ignore what I was doing,’’ Beeck said. “I didn’t want to pay attention to the scores and have fun.’’
The top six women and top sevenmen advanced to the finals in March, where the top prize for men and women is $ 7,500.
Also having fun was Terrance House, who had games of 204, 249 and 177 to go with his 189 handicap to finish second with an 819. Tim Barth, bowling on the same lanes and following Prokash, finished third with a 782.
Some familiar bowlers return to the finals. Vicki Hobscheid, the 2014 champion, was the final women’s qualifier. Robyn Hamilton, a runner- up in the 2011 finals, was fourth.
Other women advancing were Stephanie Aldridge, Belinda Pagan and Michele Berry. Other men advancing were Bobby Nunn, Anthony Kornecke, Michael Cothard and Andy Parham.
In its first 56 years, BTC, for which the Sun- Times is the media sponsor, has raised $ 2,856,618.43 for charity from 5,768,200 entries.
Fox Valley
Missy Yurs owned the field at the Fox Valley sectional at Mardi Gras Lanes in DeKalb with a 746. On the men’s side, Frank Tardio finally made the finals with a 724.
“It was just making sure I was hitting the mark, as long as I slowed down,’’ said Yurs, a DeKalb courier.
She advanced out of sectionals for the first time with games of 205, 254 and 206 to go with 81 pins of handicap.
In BTC, handicap is 90 percent of difference of average below 210.
Tardio, a retired ironworker from Inverness, moved to an older ball, a Hammer Black Widow, in the middle of the first game because he “was leaving a flat 10. Then I was in the pocket every time.’’
He rolled games of 245, 246 and 206 with 27 pins of handicap.
The top three men and the top three women advanced to the finals.
Jody Svoboda, a certified nursing assistant from Sycamore, was second, and Terri Crawley, a pediatrician from Huntley, apparently became the first doctor to make the finals.
Mike Ryan, a teacher from Algonquin, missed the top spot by one pin with a 723. Joe Spoonmore, a Yorkville manwho works in well drilling, nabbed the final spot.