2022-23 NewsTribune Girls Bowler of the Year

After the La Salle-Peru girls bowling team placed sixth at the 2022 state tournament, the Cavaliers lost a key player with the graduation of Isabella Weber.

With Weber, the 2021-22 NewsTribune Girls Bowler of the Year, gone, her younger sister, Olivia, felt she needed to help fill the void.

“I think I had more determination this year,” Olivia Weber said. “I was practicing a lot more than last year, so that helped a lot. I think [I was more determined] because my sister went to college, and I felt like I needed to step up for the team.”

Weber indeed stepped up, playing a key role in the Cavaliers’ return to state and second sixth-place finish in a row.

She had an area-best 190 average, placed second at the Cavalier Classic to help L-P win it own tournament and had L-P’s best score at the Interstate 8 Conference Tournament as the Cavs repeated as champions.

Weber really came on strong in the postseason, winning the Dixon Regional with a 1,384 six-game series and placing second at the Eisenhower Sectional with a 1,249.

She capped her season with a 24th-place finish at state with a two-day total of 2,401.

For all she accomplished this season, Weber is the 2022-23 NewsTribune Girls Bowler of the Year, keeping the award in the family for the third year in a row. Olivia Weber also won the honor as a freshman.

“She had a great season,” L-P coach Jim McCabe said. “She started out very strong early in the season, then had a little bit of a lull. She kept fighting and working though it nicely to get the problem solved. She came to the end of the season being a great team player. She had our high scores at the regional and sectional. At state, she did her work and did everything she could to help us out.”

Weber served as L-P’s anchor bowler, a role that suits her, McCabe said.

“She stepped up and held her spot,” McCabe said. “That’s the job at that position to have high scores and carry the team when it needs to be carried.

“[She fits the anchor role] because she doesn’t let things bother her. She knows she’s the last one, and people are looking at her. She doesn’t let that faze her. That’s the spot where Olivia fits in. She likes it really well. She has time to get in her mind frame, and she steps into that position and does her thing.”

Weber prepares for her role by practicing the sport year-round.

“I was practicing all throughout the summer,” Weber said. “When bowling season came, I practiced a lot more games than I did last year.

“We would do spare games every day to help improve our 7 and 10 pins. I would do a drill where we would just focus on our release of the ball and just overall balance.”

McCabe said Weber comes to the bowling alley every day “ready to work.”

“She’s always striving to do her very best and striving to help the team do their very best, as well,” McCabe said.

Weber plans to practice four or five times per week in the offseason and compete in tournaments as she prepares for one more high school season.

“My expectations for next year are to make it to state as a team or individually, but preferably as a team, and place top 10 in state,” Weber said.

McCabe is expecting Weber to make even more improvement as she heads into her senior year.

“Every year she’s improved her average,” McCabe said. “I expect nothing different next year, which will help the team out. I think being a senior, she’ll step up to that position of being a leader along with Makenzie [Hamilton] and really guide the team the best they can.”