Mendota’s Landon Bauer qualifies for state bowling: NewsTribune roundup for Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024

BOYS BOWLING

At Rockford: Mendota senior Landon Bauer rolled a 1,382 six-game series Saturday to place fourth individually at the Rockford Jefferson Sectional at Don Carter Lanes to earn a return trip to the IHSA state tournament.

The Trojans placed eighth in the team standings. The top six teams advance to state. Mendota finished 57 pins behind sixth-place Hononegah.

Harlem won the team title with a 6,346. La Salle-Peru finished 15th with a 5,375.

Also for Mendota, Alex Holland bowled a 1,214, Paxton Bauer had a 1,161 and Kooper Novak had a 1,132.

For the Cavaliers, Emerson Vasquez bowled a 1,233, Aiden McCray rolled a 1,055, Aaron Siebert had a 1,052 and Zach Quick had a 1,049.

Hall-Putnam County’s Bryce Smith rolled a 1,076, Kaiden Kenny had a 982 and Dawson Huffman had a 973.

BOYS BASKETBALL

Fieldcrest 50, El Paso-Gridley 45: Brady Ruestman scored a game-high 21 points to help the No. 2-seeded Knights repeat as McLean County/Heart of Illinois Conference Tournament champions with a victory over the No. 1 Titans at Illinois Wesleyan University’s Shirk Center in Bloomington.

St. Bede 39, Henry-Senachwine 35: Jake Migliorini scored 13 points to help the No. 9-seeded Bruins to a victory over No. 8 Mallards in a Tri-County Conference Tournament play-in game in Henry.

St. Bede advances to play No. 1 Seneca on Monday in Granville.

Putnam County 66, Dwight 60: Orlando Harris scored 22 points as the No. 10-seeded Panthers topped the No. 7 Trojans in a Tri-County Conference Tournament play-in game in Dwight.

Owen Saepharn had 19 points for Putnam County, which advances to play No. 2 Marquette on Monday.

Mendota 63, Amboy 48: The Trojans rolled to a nonconference victory in Amboy.

Bureau Valley 45, Eastland 42: Bryce Helms scored 11 points to help the Storm to a nonconference victory in Manlius.

Elijah Endress, Corban Chhim and Landon Hulsing added nine points each for BV (13-8).

Orangeville-Aquin 72, LaMoille 62: The Lions cut an 18-point deficit down to six but couldn’t complete the rally in a nonconference loss in LaMoille

Tyler Billhorn had 24 points and 15 rebounds for the Lons, while Brayden Klein contributed 23 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.

Moline 76, La Salle-Peru 50: The Cavaliers lost a nonconference game in Moline.

Reed-Custer 48, Hall 46: The Red Devils came up short in a nonconference game in Spring Valley.

WRESTLING

At LeRoy: Three Princeton wrestlers won their bracket at the Randy Bowman Invitational to help the Tigers place second among 20 teams with 164 points. Oakwood won with 210.5.

Augustus Swanson (106 pounds), Casey Etheridge (165) and Cade Odell (285) each claimed titles.

Swanson won by fall in 1:34 in the semifinals before defeating LeRoy’s Brady Mouser, who is ranked No. 1 by www.illinoismatmen.com, by a 7-1 decision, avenging an overtime loss to Mouser at the Princeton invite Jan. 6.

Etheridge recorded two pins to reach the title match where he pinned Pittsfield’s Waylon White in 3:09, while Odell won twice by pin to advance to the title match before edging LeRoy’s Tate Sigler 3-2.

Also for Princeton, Ace Christiansen placed second at 138 and recorded his 100th career win.

At Rochelle: La Salle-Peru placed fourth in the girls Interstate 8 Conference Tournament.

Kiely Domyancich won her bracket, while Danica Scoma placed second and Sarah Lowery finished third.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Fieldcrest 55, El Paso-Gridley 41: Kaitlin White poured in a game-high 27 points to lead the No. 7-seeded Knights to a victory over the No. 5 Titans in the McLean County/Heart of Illinois Conference Tournament fifth-place game in El Paso.

Macy Gochanour scored 19 points for Fieldcrest (17-7).

Princeton 59, Orion 37: Camryn Driscoll scored 14 pints as the Tigresses earned a Three Rivers Conference crossover victory in Princeton.

Olivia Mattingly had 13 points for Princeton (15-6), while Keighley Davis and Paige Jesse contributed eight each.

BOYS SWIMMING

At Palos Heights: The La Salle-Peru co-op had nine top-five finishes at the Sheppard Invite.

Chris Lowery won the 100-yard backstroke in 1:05.15 and placed second in the 200 individual medley (2:09.76).

He swam with Tyler Ditchfield, Brian Lowery and Jonathan Neu to place second in the 400 freestyle relay (3:35.42) and teamed with Neu, Brian Lowery and Vince Wargo to finish fourth in the 200 medley relay (1:51.730.

Brian Lowery placed second in the 100 butterfly (59.11) and third in the 100 breaststroke (1:07.03), Ditchfield was second in the 500 freestyle (5:30.14) and Neu took fourth in the 50 freestyle (23.54) and 100 backstroke (1:01.64).

The Cavaliers placed eighth among 10 teams.