By: James McKeever
Long before the high school bowling season started, Monroe High boys and girls coach George Packard knew exactly who he would pencil in when the time came to fill out his lineup card for real.
To a coach in any sport, that’s a reassuring feeling.
"It’s nice knowing what you have," said Packard, whose team opened the season on Wednesday. "There’s no guesswork involved. We have experienced bowlers out there."
On the Falcons’ boys team, there is only one senior. But Packard’s team did not lose a single player from last season’s club that produced a 9-5-2 record and finished third in the GMC White Division.
Senior Bobby Stern returns for his fourth season under Packard. He’s joined by four juniors returnees T.J. Van Gorden, Eric Wysokowski and Tim Seyfried, and newcomer Dan Trinkler sophomore Nick Zirkel and freshman Greg Puleio.
Van Gorden was named to the GMC All-White Division team last year after averaging 196. He is expected to team up with Stern and Wysokowski to lead the Falcons in matches. A combination of Zirkel, Seyfried, Puleio and Trinkler will fill spots four through six.
In high school play, each team bowls six players, with the five best scores counting toward the team’s total.
"We’re cautiously optimistic," Packard said on the eve of the season opener. "Going into the season I’m not sure what all the other teams have coming back. But if we bowl the way we’re capable of bowling, we’ll be OK. We have a veteran lineup. We don’t have any holes to fill."
The same can be said for Monroe’s girls team. Packard is carrying 10 players (as he is with the boys team),including six seniors. The Falcons finished with an11-7 mark last year fourth in the GMC White Division and have a chance to be significantly better this winter.
Kristin Bjornsen led this senior group with a 159average last year. She is the daughter of Edison boys/girls coach Ken Bjornsen. Robyn Grant, Samantha Beyer and Alayna Berg averaged in the high 140’s,according to Packard. Thea Narkiewicz and Carol Spack are the other seniors helping to form the nucleus of the team.
Packard has two freshmen, Nicole Chasan and Shannon Weber, who show promise and could step in as team leaders next year as sophomores.
"The two freshmen give us a boost," said Packard, who started the boys and girls bowling programs at Monroe in 1996 after a long successful stint as the Falcons’ boys soccer coach. "The freshmen are bowling pretty well and hopefully they can push some of the seniors to pick up their games a little."
Monroe lost some tight matches a year ago. Turn some of those setbacks around, Packard feels, and Monroe could give GMC foes fits this winter. "We had close matches that we lost last year," the coach said. "If we can show improvement on that, we should be tough to deal with.
"Like I said with the boys, we know what we have here. If we bowl up to our potential, hopefully we’ll be coming home with smiles on our faces a lot this season."
