This year, Junior Anthony Swanson followed up his previous success by once again qualifying for state for the third year in a row. Despite this, as a team, Evanston finished just short of qualifying out of their sectional tournament.

“We need to be more focused as a team, we weren’t as focused the second half of the day which put us out of state so not getting too lost in our emotions will help us tremendously.” reflected Swanson.

Entering their sectional at Mundelein, Evanston had hopes of making state. In the first half of the day, they were in position. However, other high schools such as Grant and Vernon Hills passed them, and when the dust settled, they finished 6th, just 79 pins away from qualifying for the needed top four. This performance did not affect Swanson however, as he still finished 3rd in the individual category and qualified for state.

“I think I can work on helping my teammates when they’re down. These past few years, when my teammates haven’t been doing well, I’ve just let them get themselves out of it. I can do a much better job of helping them,” stated Swanson.

Despite this, when state came, Swanson only finished 48th individually. While not bad, this performance was a decline from previous years. In his freshman year, he finished 13th overall, and last year 41st.

“I did worse than last year which I thought was pretty bad, but I’ll get them next time.” exclaimed Swanson.

Looking forward, although Evanston is losing some key players, they definitely have the pieces to rebound and make state as a team next year led by Swanson and Sophomore Shane Asbra.

“A lot of the younger guys are starting to shine and are practicing over the summer, which is great. A lot of people only bowl during the season and never bowl again for the rest of the year but what holds us up are the kids who bowl during the offseason.”