By Randy Whalen

Tyler MacDonald didn't get a storybook ending.

"No, sadly not," the Joliet West senior said. 

But what MacDonald did get was four amazing seasons bowling for the Tigers. He recently ended his season at the same place he had each of his four years in high school—the Illinois High School Association Boys Bowling State Finals. Those took place on Friday and Saturday, January 31, and February 1 at St. Clair Bowl in O'Fallon.

While he made the final day as an individual, he didn't have an All-State finish this season and Joliet West fell short of qualifying for the second day. 

"I'm more upset that the team didn't make it through," MacDonald said. "Sometimes the pins don't fall. I felt that the good shots got 9's and not strikes. The bad shots were pretty punishing. It was a tough house.

"Still, we won a regional (the Joliet Central Regional at Strike N' Spare in Lockport) and that gave us back-to-back regionals. Then we won a sectional for the first time ever. I feel with how the season started, we didn't win a tournament at all during it, I felt we pulled it together at the end."

Although he barely bowled at state as a freshman, MacDonald was there with the team in the 2021-22 season as the Tigers took third. Joliet West placed eighth as a team his sophomore season but MacDonald was outstanding, placing third in the state as an individual.

As a junior, MacDonald placed third again, with the exact same pinfall total as the year before, 2659, and helped the Tigers to a fifth-place finish. So he and the Tigers came into the state finals planning for another good finish, especially coming off their first sectional title in school history.

But Joliet West didn't fair well at the recent tournament, placing 16th out of 24 teams with a total of 5853. After opening with a 991 game, the Tigers had a nice 1,087 in game No. 2. But a 932 gave them a 3010 score at the break. A 1016 score started the afternoon session, but an 877 and a 950 left them on the outside of the second-day qualifying Top 12 by 102 pins.

"What happened at state was the same thing during the season," Joliet West coach Reggie Lee said. "In bowling, spares win championships. We missed 15 one-pin spares for six games, which would have given us 6003, and 10th place going into Day 2."

MacDonald had a great afternoon to finish with a 1302 first-day total. He rolled games of 243, 221, and 245 for a 709 afternoon, which was the second-best afternoon session of the first day and was 21st overall at that point.

But a lot of the other Tigers struggled. Freshman David Brunner had a great opening game of 246 and also had a 201 in the final game, which gave him a 1207 total and also qualified him for Day No. 2 by two pins.

"David Brunner, Tyler Bishop and I were sitting there and looking at the scores to see who made it to Day 2," MacDonald said. "We thought he made it, then we didn't, then we did. We realized he was in the 30th and final qualifying individual spot. I was just so happy for him."

Bishop, a junior who was the individual Naperville Central Sectional champion and helped the team to the title at Lisle Lanes, bowled a total of 1092, including a high of 246 in the second game. In five games, sophomore Michael Schlottman had a total of 1003, including two good games of 233 and 232 to start.

Brody Johnson, the only other senior on the team, had a 915 total in five games. He had a high of 220 in the third game. Junior Alex Sanchez (181) and sophomore Andrew Markun (153) both bowled the final game. Freshman Tim Besler didn't bowl.

"There were several bright spots," Lee said. "We started a freshman, David Brunner, who shot 1207 to make it to Saturday, and a sophomore Michael Schlottman, who averaged 200 for five games.

"Finally, Tyler had a rough morning, going 593. Then, in the afternoon, he went 709 for 1302, which got him to Saturday. He ended the season upbeat, but not with the outcome he hoped for. He's still a two-time All-State and three-time All-Conference selection, and he's been on the regional and sectional winning teams. Tyler finished the season at 214 avg, so it's not bad for a senior."

On the second day, Brunner had a 1048, which included a high of 204 in the third game. That gave him a total of 2255 and he finished 71st overall.

MacDonald started well enough on the second day, with a 620 morning total, including a high of 221 in the third game. However, he fell off some in the afternoon, with a 1160 second-day total. He finished with a 2462 two-day total and tied for 37th overall. 

"I just went out and had fun on Day 2," MacDonald said. "I was just throwing the ball and having fun with my friends. There were a lot of guys out there that I knew from outside of school bowling I knew all of them on my pair."

That fun included doing something different on his final shot. MacDonald led off the 10th frame with a strike and then shot a nine. But his last high school shot ended up being a gutter ball.

"I'm a one-handed bowler but I used two hands on that last shot," he said. "One more pin wasn't going to make a difference so I just wanted to do something different and have fun."

MacDonald won the individual title at this season's regional with an outstanding 1444 score. He's had a 300 outside of high school but his 4-year high for the Tigers was a 299 at last season's Naperville Central Regional. Where will MacDonald bowl in college?

"I have not committed yet," he said. "I was close to committing but I had a new school contact me so I started the process all over again. I'm looking to see what's the best fit."

What will MacDonald remember the most about his four varsity seasons at Joliet West?

"The easy answer is the people," MacDonald said. "It sounds cliche but it's true. We had a guy, Ryan Zielinski, on last season's team who was a freshman. He moved to Tennessee in the off-season but he came all the way to O'Fallon to see us for both days of the state tournament.  

"So that was great. So it's the people that I've met in the last four years. I never would have met them if I didn't bowl."