By: Stacey Gorski
For the Monroe Township High School boys’ bowling team, it was a season to remember.
The Falcons finished with a 12-2-2 regular season record and a school record second in the White Division of the Greater Middlesex County league.
Though their post-season endeavors in the GMC tournament and the state sectionals were a bit disappointing, the team will return next year with even more to look forward to.
In the GMC, the boys lost to South Brunswick 2-1 in a best two-out-of-three format. The team bowled a total 2730 that day behind junior Andrew Chung’s 621 series. However, after Chung, there was not much to talk about.
"They simply bowled better than we did," head coach George Packard said, "We did not bowl that well."
Then, a couple of weeks later, the state sectionals produced no better results as the team finished 21st in a field of 31 teams. They were 410 pins behind the sectional winner, Colonia, which Monroe beat in the final weeks of the regular season.
"They were disappointed with the sectionals," head coach George Packard said. "There was nothing to do about it. They didn’t bowl as well as they did in the regular season. I just told them they had a good year, and that was really the end of it."
According to Packard, the only bowler to have a good day at sectionals last weekend was freshman Eric Wysokowski who bowled a 615 series that day.
Despite the disappointing end of the season, Packard was pleased with his team’s overall performance this year.
"The big win (moving Monroe into second in the division) didn’t come until the end of the season," Packard said. "They just kept it close and were consistent."
Packard admitted that his team’s strong regular season performance was quite a surprise. At the beginning of the season, he hesitated to set any definite goals for the boys team, as they are a very young team.
"With three freshmen in the lineup, you don’t know how they are going to perform," Packard said. "It was a good surprise."
Packard looks forward to more pleasant surprises next year as four of the team’s five starting bowlers will return. However, the team will miss the quiet leadership of senior Jim Smith.
"Jimmy was a team leader," Packard said of his lone senior. "He is a quiet kid, not a rah-rah guy. He just goes about his business and sets an example that way."
Without Smith, next year’s core will include Wysokowski and Chung as well as freshmen T.J. Van Gorden and Dan Lynch. Three of those four returnees bowled over 600 at some point this season, so the goal for next year is bump everyone up over that mark.
"This year was quite out of nowhere," Packard said. "(But,) this year is basically over. They may get together and bowl once in a while and in tournaments or something. They will be practicing through to when we start again next winter."
