From unknown to unbelievable

Vikings come from nowhere to win GMC boys bowling title

By: Tyler Dey
   Already an unlikely finalist, the South Brunswick High School boys bowling team last week became an unlikely champion.
   The Vikings capped a remarkable run and rolled their way to the Greater Middlesex Conference Team Tournament title Feb. 12. The tournament’s 11th seed with a 6-11-1 regular-season mark in the GMC Red Division, South Brunswick defeated fifth-seeded Edison 2-1 to claim the championship at Brunswick Zone Carolier Lanes in North Brunswick.
   When asked if she had seen her team bowl that well, South Brunswick coach Tara Burniston said: "Not all together. No. They all had potential, but now they were all on at the same time."
   "I think it all came down to the fact that nobody had any faith they could get that far," Burniston added. "Now they believed that they could do it."
   The win was the fourth straight for South Brunswick, all coming in the tournament. The second-game loss to Edison in the championship match was the first the Vikings dropped in the four-round, best-of-3 bracket, but it proved to be trivial when they won the final game.
   The Vikings built up to the final and offered perhaps their best performance of the season in their biggest moment. Four bowlers – Robby Kohutanycz (653), Ben Bleacher (624), Corey Weiss (601) and Ross Winiarz (627) – posted 600-plus three-game series for South Brunswick and all six posted at least one 200-plus game. Five of the six put up two 200-plus games (a total of 11). By comparison, Edison had six 200-plus games and two bowlers with a 600-plus series.
   "I was very happy with everybody," Winiarz said, "because I’ve never seen them all bowl this well before."
   The one who bowled best out of all the Vikings was Kohutanycz, who put up his best sanctioned three-game series ever against Edison last week. The sophomore finished his third game with six strikes, a spare and then a final strike to close out the contest.
   "We went into the last game saying, ‘We have to do it here,’" Kohutanycz said. "The three guys in my lane, the first three frames everyone was nervous. Then I hit a strike and the other guys followed with strikes. The intensity built up and everyone felt calm and relaxed."
   The Vikings easily took the first game of the contest 1,010-865. Kohutanycz was the catalyst, putting up a 226. Edison bounced back in the second game, taking it 1,094-1,033. The rubber match was all South Brunswick, with the Vikings putting up 1,079 to Edison’s 973. Kohutanycz rolled the match’s high game, 245, and was backed up by Orchard (211) Bleacher (224), and Winiarz (214) in the third game.
   The final result was fairly apparent from the eighth frame on, Winiarz said. The team simply had to wait for that last pin to fall before they could celebrate their championship.
   "I felt great," Winiarz said. "It felt good because we knew we could do it."
   The Vikings saw the second-game loss as merely a bump in the road.
   "We knew if we won the first game we’d be alright," Kohutanycz said. "They won the second game and had, like, two guys at 236 and two others over 200. We said: ‘Hey, it’s one game. They threw their good game, now it’s our turn.’"
   The Vikings split their two regular-season meetings with the Eagles, a fact Burniston said gave her team confidence going into the final.
   "Because we had beaten Edison, we knew that they weren’t this machine-like team that couldn’t be beat," she said.
   "The team we wanted to face was Edison," Winiarz said, pointing out that the Vikings’ sweep of the Eagles on Jan. 28 in their next-to-last regular-season match was a big factor in the team’s turnaround.
   "It was the first time in our history that we swept them. It was a big accomplishment for us."
   The Vikings dropped their final regular-season match, a 4-0 decision to St. Joseph, but didn’t lose the rest of the way. The Vikings beat Bishop Ahr (2-0 on Feb. 4), John F. Kennedy (2-0, Feb. 6), Carteret (2-0, Monday) and Edison in the tournament. All four opponents were seeded higher than South Brunswick.
   With few regular-season or postseason accomplishments to cite before this season, teams may have taken South Brunswick lightly in the past. Not anymore, according to Kohutanycz.
   But he added: "We still have to remember to respect everyone else, because they can do the same thing that we did."
   FINAL FRAME: The bowling season at South Brunswick came to an end Saturday at the NJSIAA State Championships. Lauren Sohmer advanced out of the first round, but fell short of reaching the stepladder finals. Sohmer’s 1,107 six-game total placed her 16th in the state among the girls. Teammate and GMC individual champ Cyndi Fregoni bowled a 527 three-game series, but did not reach the second round. No boys qualified for the state championships.