Boys Bowling: Southland Prep’s Sibby in uncharted waters

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Southland College Prep sophomore Perry Sibby in sectional competition. Sibby became his school's first state qualifier with a second-place finish at the sectional. Supplied photo.

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Updated: February 27, 2012 8:49AM

Southland College Prep does not yet have a varsity bowling team. What it does have, however, is a bowling state finalist.

Sophomore Perry Sibby finished second at Saturday’s Andrew Sectional and punched his ticket to the state meet, which begins Friday at St. Clair Bowl in O’Fallon.

He will be the first athlete to represent the Richton Park charter school, which opened in August of 2010, at a state finals event in any sport.

“I think this really means a lot to the school,” Sibby said. “I’m really happy and thankful that I’m the first one to ever get to state from my school.”

Sibby has been the big man on campus this week, but he’s trying to keep things in perspective.

“I’ve had a lot of students, teachers, the principal congratulating me,” he said. “They’re all telling me to kick butt downstate. I’m just trying to keep my cool, though. I don’t want to get too cocky. I just can’t wait for the tournament to get here.”

Southland fielded a bowling team — technically a junior varsity squad, though it did compete in three varsity tournaments — for the first time this season, with a roster consisting of two sophomores and three freshmen.

Brian Wales, who was an assistant football coach at Brother Rice before moving to Southland and becoming the school’s first bowling coach, saw something special in Sibby right away.

“I saw all year how consistent he was and that he was a natural problem solver,” Wales said. “If you don’t have technique, it leads to sloppy play. Perry is more focused on technique than scoring points, and that’s a good sign.”

Another good sign? Sibby’s resiliency.

He led the sectional heading into the final game, when he admits nerves might have gotten to him a bit. With three open frames heading into the 10th, Sibby needed a big finish. He struck out to finish with a 188, sealing the second and final individual advancing spot.

“The lanes started drying up and I thought I lost my mark,” he said. “Before the last frame, I just moved over a couple boards. I really wanted to strike out.”

For Sibby, the road to making school history began at a cousin’s birthday party when he was eight.

“That was the first time I really got into bowling,” he said. “The guys next to me were throwing hooks. I tried to do it and just kept throwing gutter balls. My parents told me to just throw it down the middle, but I kept trying to hook it until I got it down.”

Sibby said he has no goal in mind this week. Wales thinks he can finish in the top 15. No matter what happens, though, the foundation of Southland’s program has been laid.

“Whenever you start a new program, you want that one stud athlete to build around,” Wales said. “We’re going to focus on building around Perry now.”