Wennekamp rolls a 300 at Legacy Lanes

     Mike Wennekamp believes his is an unorthodox bowling style.

     “I would not describe myself as a bowler,” the 35-year-old Monticello resident said. “So many people look at the lines and the arrows and dots, and I would be lost if I started looking at things.

     “So I just look at the pins and throw the ball. I don’t have the perfect form or anything like that.”

     He was, however, able to put together a perfect game. Wennekamp bowled a 300 during the Thursday night Suburban League Jan. 2 at Legacy Lanes, his first ever. It happened on lanes 7 and 8, finishing on lane 7.

     “I’ve been close a couple of times with strikes all the way to the 10^th, but that was the first time it got down to the last ball,” he said.

     In that 10^th frame, he bowled opposite Kegan Arduser. Wennekamp bowled a strike, and they high-fived. Arduser hit one too, and they high-fived again.

     “It kind of keeps you loose,” Wennekamp said.

     He said he felt good all night.

     “It was just kind of clicking. It clicked from the start,” he said. “The only one that was not solid in the pocket was the very last one. It was just a little heavy, but it spun enough to knock them all down. I got a little lucky.”

     He said he was a little shaky on the last ball.

     “I don’t really know what was going on behind me. I was trying not to think about it. I was trying to keep my routine the same, and try not to slow down or speed up,” Wennekamp said.

     After the pins fell, he said, “I didn’t really know what to think. I just turned around and everyone was coming to congratulate me, so that was kind of cool.”

     He said he struggled in the second game, but bowled a 233 in the third game to make it to 700, finishing with a 701 series.

     Wennekamp said he bowled in youth leagues, then left the sport for a while before starting up with the Commander team eight years ago. He carried a 204 average at the end of 2019.

     Having the right equipment has helped, Wennekamp said.

     “Brian (Meyer, Legacy Lanes owner) puts me in the right ball for how I throw,” Wennekamp said. “He’s good at figuring that out for everybody.”

     Mike and his wife Kelsie have a three-year-old daughter, Dylan, who likes to bowl as well.

     “She likes to set it on the ground and push it,” Wennekamp said.