Two years ago Saint Patrick high School didn’t even have a bowling team. Two short years later the Shamrocks are headed downstate as one of the 24 teams that qualified for the Illinois High School Association Boy’s Bowling State Finals in O’Fallon next weekend. The Shamrocks earned their berth by placing second in the IHSA’s Chicago (Gordon Tech.) Sectional on January 21. Saint Patrick scored 5,373 over the six games in the Sectional, 40 pins behind Sectional Champion Lane and 200 pins ahead of third-place Von Steuben, to garner a trip downstate.

Senior Matt Merkel led the Shamrocks, averaging 197 over the six games in the sectional, with three games over 200. Merkel’s 247 in the first game was the second highest individual game score posted all day. Merkel’s total of 1,180 placed him second behind Sectional Champion Andres Torres of Kelvyn Park.

Merkel was the top Shamrock bowler, but Saint Patrick’s success was the result of a total team effort as all five bowlers finished among the top sixteen individuals in the Section. Chris Iverson (1,077), Bob Torkelson (1,058), Pete Penkala (1,037), and John Leyva (1,021) all topped 1,000 pins as the Shamrocks got a strong performance from their entire lineup.

The Shamrocks were the only team to break the 1,000-pin mark in any game, posting a score of 1,025 in the first game. Merkel’s 247 gave them a good start. Penkala and Iverson both topped 200 with Penkala tallying a 216 and Iverson a 202. Leyva added a 191, and Torkelson rolled a 169 to close out the lineup.

The Shamrocks will travel to O’Fallon on Thursday morning to practice. They will compete Friday and Saturday at the St. Clair Bowl in O’Fallon. Opening Ceremonies are scheduled for 9:00am on Friday, with the first round of the state finals set to begin at 9:30am. The second round will start at 1:25pm. The field will be narrowed to the top 12 teams plus 20 individuals before the third round on Saturday, then pared down to six teams plus 10 individuals for the fourth and final round on Saturday afternoon.