By: Tyler Dey
The second half of the Greater Middlesex Conference White Division bowling season started with a most common, and cursed, of bowling terms for Monroe High School a split.
The boys and girls went 1-1 in their first matches of the new year on Monday and Tuesday. They both won Wednesday, but at the same time failed to qualify anyone for the GMC Individual Tournament.
On Monday both quads defeated South Amboy, the boys by a 3-1 mark and the girls with a 4-0 sweep. The next day the boys found themselves swept by North Brunswick while the girls dropped a 3-1 decision to Mother Seton. A pair of 4-0 decisions returned Monroe to the victory column Wednesday against South River.
The boys (4-4-1) earned their win against South Amboy behind the outstanding 672 series bowled by Eric Wysokowski. Bobby Stern backed up Wysokowski with a 561 and Chris DeCandia recorded a 518. The Falcons’ final overall pin total of 2,764, 90 more than their opponents, clinched the victory.
Wysokowski returned to the lineup for the Falcons this week after missing all of December due to illness.
"Hopefully he’ll pick us up in the second half of the season," coach George Packard said. "We beat South Amboy Monday. That’s a team we lost to earlier."
Against North Brunswick Tuesday, Monroe never came within 60 pins in any of its three games against the Raiders. The Falcons were consistent, however, posting totals of 923, 927 and 925 in the games, but came up more than 300 pins behind North Brunswick in the final total. T.J. Van Gorden, who did not compete against South Amboy, led Monroe with a 618 series. Wysokowski was next, following up his stellar performance from a day earlier with a 586.
Tim Seyfried led the Falcons against South River with a 627 series Wednesday.
Though the Falcons were victorious, any joy was tempered by the fact that the results were just short of qualifying any of the Falcons for the GMC Individual Tournament. The South River match was a makeup from a December snow-out. The makeup and the GMC qualifying round were held simultaneously.
The top 20 performers from across the conference Wednesday reached the next round. Seyfried’s 627 score was just shy of the 630 it took to crack the top 20.
For the girls (7-4), Kristen Bjornsen continues to lead Monroe. The Falcons swept South Amboy despite a relatively low 2,022 Monday. The total rose to 2,302 Tuesday, but it wasn’t enough to keep Monroe from dropping a 3-1 decision to Mother Seton for the second time this season.
None of the games the girls bowled Wednesday were good enough to qualify them for the next round of the GMC Tournament.
In addition to Bjornsen, Packard had praise for others on the team as well.
"Samantha Beyer and Robyn Grant are doing very well," he said. "Alayna Berg is doing good too. I think they’re all becoming more consistent."
The girls sit in fourth place in the GMC White Division. The boys are fifth. With the first chance at tournament glory passed (GMC individuals), Packard has his eyes on Feb. 4, when the GMC Team Tournament gets underway. Seeding in the tournament will depend on the conference’s final regular-season standings.
The state tournament is also approaching, but Packard said, "I’m not even concerned with that right now."

