Smack talkers aren’t always enjoyable.
Lincoln-Way Central junior Ryan Marszalek is quite the opposite.
My favorite part of the conversation we had regarding the 300 game he threw at the boys bowling state finals in O’Fallon had to do with how it felt.
He took that question and ran with it.
“It was cool, especially being on the second day when spectators were allowed,” Marszalek said. “No one was allowed the first day.
“I mean, getting it with the team there was enough, but to shoot 300 with all of the people there was really nice.”
Then came the zinger.
“It also feels good not to hear my dad say he’s still the man of the house shooting the only 300,” Marszalek said, laughing. “He always gave me stuff that I couldn’t talk smack until I got one. He can’t use that excuse anymore.”
His dad Ray, by the way, is an assistant coach for the Knights. And I’m sure he will deal with that dig with a smile.
Even as a smack talker, Ryan is genuinely likable. He’s also one of the more interesting athletes in the Southland.
Marszalek is a three-sport athlete at Lincoln-Way Central. He does them over two seasons.
In soccer, he’s the starting goaltender. In football, he kicked extra points and field goals as a sophomore. This past season, he was the punter.
Bowling head coach Coley O’Connell said that for one crazy week, Marszalek was a three-sport athlete in one season.
“It was last year with the weird seasons,” O’Connell said. “He was finishing football, we had tryouts for bowling and soccer was just starting. There was an overlap, so he was technically involved in three sports at once.”
Rare? Of course. But juggling sports is something Marszalek does all the time, anyway.
“I bounce back and forth,” he said. “Soccer and bowling are over football, but I go on little spurts. Even golf comes in at times.
“I’ll go bowl on a Saturday, and then Sunday and Monday all I want to do is go bowl again. Then I’ll have two days of soccer and all I want to do is play the next game, the next tournament.”
This season in football, Marszalek punted because the Knights had senior Jake Andjelic as an all-area kicker for extra points and field goals. But last spring on the sophomore team, Marszalek booted a 39-yard field goal.
In soccer, Marszalek is a two-time all-area goalkeeper. This fall, he registered 11 shutouts with a 0.67 goals-against average for the Knights (17-2-2).
In bowling, Marszalek bowls fifth in the lineup. Pressure, anybody?
“When he came in for this season I asked everybody, including all of our seniors, who they wanted at anchor,” O’Connell said. “They were like, ‘Ryan, Ryan, Ryan.’ So, they knew he was the one who should be there.”
Marszalek averaged 216 for the season. At state, he averaged 224.8 and finished fifth in the individual competition. His 2,697 pins over 12 games left him one shy of fourth-place finisher Brandon Caruso from Minooka.
The highlight was the 300.
A week earlier, Marszalek flirted with a perfect game in the sectional. On his final ball, he left a solid 7 pin.
“That was a good shot,” Marszalek said. “We were heartbroken it didn’t fall.”
In his third game Saturday at St. Clair Bowl, every shot with his Honey Badger ball hit the pocket — even one that first hit near the pocket on his pants.
“That was on the sixth shot,” Marszalek said. “I kind of whacked it off of my leg right before I let go of it. It was going slow, but it got to the outside part of the lane. It was a still a good pocket hit.”
There would be no heartbreak on the 12th ball this time.
“When he got that 300, he was literally in a zone,” O’Connell said. “You could see by the third frame that he was going to go big. It was just the same shot every time. It was pretty to watch.”
It’ll be a tough act to follow. But when he isn’t smack talking his dad, he plans to sharpen his game.
“I’m still in travel soccer in the spring,” Marszalek said. “But I’ll stay active with bowling and practice once or twice a week so I don’t lose it. There is always something you can do to become a little bit better.
“And I’m on a hot streak. Why would I stop?”