Clutch performance gives Norwin’s Turek WPIBL boys singles title

By: HSSN Staff
Wednesday, February 19, 2020 | 8:09 PM

Norwin senior CJ Turek is doing some of the best bowling of his four-year high school career, and on Wednesday, he picked up some hardware to prove it.

Turek turned in a clutch performance in the final match, bowling a 279 to capture the boys singles title at the WPIBL championships at Sims Lanes in Beaver Falls.

His scores in the quarterfinals and semifinals weren’t far off his effort in the championship match. He defeated Hempfield’s Dominic Vallano, 232-193, and Franklin Regional’s Alex Smith, 236-214, before topping Plum’s Vincent Cocca, 279-179, for first place.

Turek has always been a contender at the WPIBL championships, finishing in the top 25 in his previous three years at Norwin, but Wednesday marked his first trip to the single-elimination finals.

During the regular season, Turek averaged 217.17 to help Norwin go 10-0 in team competition. At the WPIBL team championships last week, Turek made the all-tournament team with a 601 series.

Cocca and Turek finished third and fourth in the qualifying rounds, so they didn’t receive byes in the quarterfinals and had to get to the finals the hard way.

Cocca advanced with a 193-160 win over Norwin’s Ethan Dutka and a 192-181 victory over Central Catholic’s Nathaniel Perl to reach the championship match.

Seventy-four WPIBL bowlers earned trips to regionals — the top 40 finishers in Wednesday’s qualifying, six others who finished with top-two averages in their section in the regular season, and 27 others who had qualifying season-long averages.

The girls WPIBL single championships are set for Thursday at Wildlife Lanes in Lower Burrell.