BY TIM MORRIS
Staff Writer
PHOTOS BY MIGUEL JUAREZ staff Above, Howell captain Nikki Hratko takes aim during Friday’s match against Freehold Township at Shore Lanes in Neptune. At left, Howell’s John Accisano shows off his form. Tuesday’s Howell Invitational will provide a good preview of what to expect at the state bowling championships.
Many of the best teams in the state, including Jackson’s girls and Brick Township’s boys, ranked No. 1 in the state, will participate in what has become an annual event.
Howell Lanes will be the venue for the tournament that will get under way at 3 p.m. Host Howell has the No. 13-ranked girls team.
Hadorn, among the other starters. Of the 12 members of the team, six are freshmen. However, despite the youth, with just four dual matches remaining, the Rebels have forged a five-game lead. They are at 37-2, with Manalapan second at 32-7 and Ocean (31-8) a game back in third. Howell has already topped Ocean twice, and beat Manalapan 2-1 in their first match last month. Manalapan’s last chance to cut into the Howell lead is tomorrow when the two teams meet at Shore Lanes. What Clampffer has liked about his young bowlers is the way they have responded to the pressure. “In our biggest match of the year, Ocean Township, we won 3-0 and bowled our second- and third-highest games of the season, and our highest series,” said Clampffer. “Our young bowlers led the way. The pressure didn’t bother them.” As the team to beat, Howell always gets everyone’s best shot, but that is fine. “Most teams bowl their highest games against us,” Clampffer explained. “That’s good for us. It pushes us.” Key for Howell this year has been its balance. They have not relied on one or two bowlers to bail them out with terrific scores. It’s a balanced team, with four of the girls averaging between 165-170. Miller currently tops the team with a 186 average. The invitational, which started off as a fund-raiser for the Howell bowling teams, has become one of the top tournaments in the state, allowing contenders to see how they size up against the teams they will be competing against later this month at Carolier Lanes, North Brunswick (site of the NJSIAA championships).
The format that will be used Tuesday is slightly different from what teams will encounter in other tournaments, Rebel coach Dave Clampffer pointed out. Teams will bowl two regular five-player series, where the team total is based on the number of pins each bowler knocks down in a three-game series, to start off, and then shift to Baker games. Under Baker rules, each player on a team will bowl two frames, adding up to a 10-frame game. There will be five Baker games.
“Baker games provide more of a team atmosphere,” noted Clampffer.
The champions will be the teams with the highest scores over both formats. Awards will be given out to the boy and girl who roll the highest series.
In addition to No. 1-ranked Jackson and No. 13 Howell, other girls teams in the field include Brick Township (No. 3) and Brick Memorial (No. 14).
Brick and Jackson are ranked Nos. 1 and 2 among the boys.
Other schools in the tournament include the Freehold Regional District (Howell, Manalapan, Freehold Township and Colts Neck), Keyport, Keansburg, Ocean Township and Southern Regional. Ocean boys are the Southern Monmouth Division leaders, while Keyport’s boys are tops in the Northern Monmouth Division.
Today the Shore Conference Tournament championships will be held at Shore Lanes in Neptune. For the first time this year, the best teams from Monmouth and Ocean counties will face off against each other. To qualify for the SCT, teams must finish first or second in their divisions.
The Monmouth County championships, which are open to every team in the county, will be held Feb. 14 at Howell Lanes.
The state tournaments are Saturday for Central Jersey girls and Feb. 11 for Central Jersey boys. The state finals are Feb. 21.
Howell girls closing in
on division title
In this tournament frenzy, Howell’s girls are remaining focused on the Southern Monmouth Division of the Shore Conference, where they are rolling toward a fifth straight title.
This was supposed to be the year that Howell came back to the pack with just two veterans, seniors Amanda Jakubowski and Nikki Hratko, returning, and a sophomore, Megan Miller, and two freshmen, Brittany Budra and Nicole