The Times-News moved east to Rolling Meadows on Sunday for the final 6 games of qualifying for the 32 semi-finalists.

Robert Lytle carried a 61 pin lead into the round and maintained a lead every game throughout the day, ultimately besting Michael Machuga by 57 pins. Lytle was the only one of the semi-finalists to finish with all 16 games over 200. He added a 6-game round of 1,357 to his 10 game total of 2,464 for a 3,821 total, an average of 238.8. Machuga, who was 58th after the first round had the highest round of the day, 1,392. His first game 259 moved him from 6th to 2nd, the position he would finish.

Nick Kightlinger remained near the top for the entire run of the qualifier. He was 5th after 5 games, 2nd after 10 and again 2nd after 13 games before settling in the 3rd position, 127 pins off the lead. Adam Gilmore also was strong in all rounds, moving from 3rd to 5th and finished 4th, another 15 pins behind Kightlinger with 3,679.

Chris Jannazzo, one of only 2 lefties in the semi-final field will become the only southpaw in the finals. He finished 5th with 3,657. Using 2 of the 3 highest games of the day, 278 in game 3 and 276 in game 5, Kylle Twaroski was one of 8 bowlers to begin the day outside the cut line but finished to make the finals. Twaroski finished atop a tightly packed group from 6th to 11th. Those 6 places were only separated by 16 pins. Next in that grouping was 7-time champion Mike Shady. He started 25th and with the high game of the day, a 289 in game 5 to finish in the 7th spot.

The second highest 6-game set of the day. 1,376 belonged to Danny Mackowski. Like in the finish of last weekends session, he closed with 269 to sneak inside the cut of the 32 semi-finalists. On this day, he found himself again outside the cut line in 17th with one game to go and closed with 268 to vault to 8th. While he qualified for the finals from the 29th starting position, Corey Rapela qualified from his starting slot of 31st. He was just 1 pin higher than the 3 bowlers who rolled off for the 32nd and final spot. Rapela finished 14th. 

The rolloff between the defending champion Killian Kilpatrick, Jeff Prue, and Mike Thompson was contested prior to the start of the semis. Thompson struggled the entire game and finished with 175 while Prue started strong and Kilpatrick stormed back late leaving the spot to be decided in the final frame. A solid 10 by Prue in the 9th left things in Kilpatrick’s hands but when he left a 7 pin on the first shot in the 10, Prue had new life. With the possibility of another tie still looming, Prue struck first when a messenger toppled the 10 which he followed with a solid strike to surpass Kilpatrick, finishing with 247 to his 238. Prue never found any magic after that and finished 32nd.

The top 10 was completed by Cody Tomlinson in 9th and Bill Gdaniec in 10th. There were just 12 and 13 pins, respectively out of 6 and Tyler Barnes, who finished 11th, was just 16 pins out of that same position.

Rodrick Baird is heading to his 3rd finals after a solid round left him comfortably in 12th. Randy Prue was next. He rose to 8th after game 4 and then dropped back 13th . Both Baird and Prue started the day outside the top 16 along with the aforementioned Rapela who was 14th.

The final two spots were occupied by the Francis brothers who spent most of the day going in opposite directions. Doug Francis started the day 3rd and could not muster a 200 game until game 5 where his 227 came at just the right time as he was falling out of the finalist group. Going into game 5 10th place was separated from 22nd place by just 32 pins. Dan Francis started 19th and with 6 games between 205 and 221 it was good enough for the final spot. His 221 came in game 4 where he started with the first six and then held. The Francis’ will be the 4th set of brothers to compete in the Times-News Finals in the same year.

Mike Sirak occupies the alternate position once again, a position he held just 2 years ago when he lost in a rolloff for the final spot. This year he was bitten bad by one poor game, a 165 in game 3 plummeted him from 11th to 22nd. He finished strong, including strikes on his final 6 shots, but it turned out to be 2 pins short.

The next to spots were held by bowlers who started inside the cut line but just couldn’t get over the hump. Cody Jacobs opened with 
265 which placed him 8th but he managed only one more 200 game dropping from 15th to 18th in the last game. Dave Warren also hovered around the cut line as well, with a high of 13th and a low of 22nd. He had a chance in the last game but things just didn’t go his way. The other leftie, Ryan Park rounded out the top 20. He fell to last after game 1 and clawed his way up, finishing 30 pins short.

The qualifying totals will be dropped as the finals move on the Eastway Lanes next Saturday and finish on Sunday at Greengarden.