By: James McKeever
No doubt about it, the Monroe boys bowling team has some pretty big shoes to fill.
Among the four seniors that coach George Packard saw graduate were heavy hitters Eric Wysokowski and T.J. Van Gorden, a couple of Greater Middlesex Conference upper-echelon players. They helped the Falcons to a school-record 24 victories (24-2-2), the GMC White Division championship and the No. 1 seed in the GMC tournament last winter.
Matching a season like that will be challenging, but don’t count out the Falcons just yet. Packard still has some talented players returning. He’s not concerned about living up to last season’s standards. The coach just wants consistency from his group of young men.
"It’s going to be a tough season, the division we’re in is always tough," Packard said. "There are no weak teams. Of course we’d like to challenge for a repeat as division champs. The potential is there. We just need everybody to bowl on a consistent level." Monroe’s boys and girls teams opened the season yesterday (Thursday) against New Brunswick and will compete in the Bishop Ahr Tournament tomorrow.
Packard has five set players two seniors and three juniors and is evaluating several players to fill the No. 6 spot.
As for the set starters, Nick Zirkel is back for his fourth varsity season and is joined by Mike Leatherwood, another senior. Zirkel, a 170 bowler as a junior, is coming off Monroe’s successful football season and shaking the rust off of his bowling game. Leatherwood averaged 179 last winter.
"Nick is a leader for us. He’s been here so long that he knows what is expected," Packard said. "We need some more consistency out of Mike than last season, but he bowled all summer long and he’s improved."
The juniors in the lineup are Greg Puleio, Danny Seyfried and Derek Witt.
Puleio is starting his third varsity season. He bowled a perfect game as a freshman. Seyfried spent most of last season on the JV team, but did gain some experience with the varsity. Witt is moving up from the JV team.
"We know what we’re going to get from Greg," Packard said of Puleio, who averaged 205 last season to earn GMC All-White Division honors. "His game is not going to change. Hopefully Danny will get up to the 190range."
Packard is looking forward to Saturday’s tournament, which should be a good early indicator of where his team stands.
"How well we do this season will depend on our last three or four spots," he said. "You know the top guys are going to be there with their scores. We need everybody in the lineup to bowl well to win."
Monroe’s girls team, also coached by Packard, brings everybody back from last winter. The Falcons took their lumps in a 7-19-1 season, but Packard is hoping the experience gained by his young bowlers a year ago will fuel a turnaround in 2005-06.
"They’re all back from last year," the coach said. "We should improve and be a .500 team or better."
Not only is Monroe’s entire team returning, but there are no seniors in the bunch. Four juniors and two sophomores form the Falcons’ six-player lineup.
Juniors Shannon Weber and Nicole Chasan lead the way. Both have been with the program the last two seasons. Weber rolled a team-high 149 average with a 194 high game and 514 high set as a sophomore. Chasan, who averaged 143, recorded a team-leading 200 game and a 520 series.
Jen Matikonis, a junior, joined the varsity last winter and showed signs of developing into a top-notch bowler. Matikonis had a 195 game and a 521 set while carrying a 138 average.
Nicole Santiago, a junior, and sophomores Noelle Trinkler and Val Michaud will join the varsity fulltime after bowling JV and varsity games last season. Trinkler bowled a 199 game last winter.
"We’re looking for all the girls to be up around 150(average) this season," Packard said. "If we can get that we should be decent. We can’t be up and down like we were last season.
"These girls should know what to expect now. They gained valuable experience last year. Now we’re looking forward to getting out there. Let’s get bowling and see what happens."

