Hinsdale South's Hall Ends 18-Year Medal Drought

ROCKFORD–Hinsdale South’s Vickie Hall was about 12 months old the last time a Hornet came home with a medal from the girls state bowling tournament.

And she wasn’t even sure she was going to advance to the state tourney.

The senior was the sixth and final at-large qualifier from throughout the state.

“Sectionals didn’t go to well for me,” Hall said. “I found out I made it at-large. My feeling was I finally did it. Now, it was time to show the IHSA what I can do.”

What she did was win the school’s first state medal since 1993 by taking ninth place with a 2,563 12-game series Friday and Saturday at Cherry Lanes.

The senior averaged 213.6 during the tournament.

“It’s been a while since somebody won a medal from my school,” Hall said. “It was in 1993. I was born in 1992. That’s pretty amazing.”

So was Hall, who was fifth after a 1,315 six-game series Friday. She rolled a 780 series in the morning, which featured games of 254, 279 and a 247.

Saturday, games of 226 to end the morning and 246 to start the afternoon sessions put Hall in the mix for a top-12 finish.

“It wasn’t easy, but I did it,” Hall said.

A 227 to end the tournament and her career was good enough to bring home the first medal in school history in nearly two decades.

“It was really close and my coach (Bob Lichter) told me, it was my last game of my high school career and to make it count,” Hall said. “I made it count and got a medal to show for it. It’s going to be exciting when I get back to school.”

Lincoln-Way North’s Kelsey O’Brien rolled a 2,427 (202.3 average) to finish 30th and her sister, Kayla finished 67th with a 2,237 (186.4).

Andrew’s Cassie Boat took 61st (2,280/190 average).