By: James McKeever
There were smiles all around the Burniston household on Monday.
That afternoon the South Brunswick girls bowling team, coached by Tara Burniston, improved its record to 5-0 with two victories in a tri-match. Also that day, the South Brunswick boys, coached by Tara’s husband Brian, picked up two wins to push their record to 4-1.
The girls team, which has been sparked by the return of Suzanne Bleacher, has not lost a game this season. The Vikings were 15-0 in games prior to Wednesday’s match against Edison.
South Brunswick opened with a solid showing (seventh place out of 29 teams) in the Bishop Ahr Holiday Classic, then rattled off victories over East Brunswick, Piscataway (last Thursday) and J.P. Stevens (Friday).
On Monday the Vikings defeated South River and South Plainfield, thanks to a 2,711 series.
In the first game, South rolled a season-high 954. It followed that with 875 and 882 games. Allison Nagle led the way with a 594 set that included a 245 game. Bleacher recorded a 204 game in a 549 series and Jennifer Tamulevicz added a 548, with a 202 high game.
One of the keys has been Bleacher’s consistent bowling. Bleacher played with the varsity as a freshman and averaged 170. She was not with the team last season, but has made a smashing return in her junior season.
"Suzanne has been very consistent. She’s bowled at least one 200 game in all of our matches," Tara Burniston said. "She’s very excited to be back."
Bleacher, a left-handed bowler, was averaging a team-high 187 through South Brunswick’s 5-0 start. Her high game of 234 came in a 551 series last week in the victory over J.P. Stevens.
"Suzanne has excellent form, wonderful form," Burniston said. "She throws a nice, easy ball that just smashes into the pocket."
Bowling is a big sport in the Bleacher family. Suzanne plays year round. Her brother Ben was a standout at South Brunswick who graduated a couple of years ago.
The Vikings have also received solid contributions from Allison Nagle, who averages 186, and Tamulevicz, who’s at 171 in her first full varsity season. In Monday’s matches, Meghan Nagle rolled a 200-512 and Mary Lynn Olsen fired a 508.
The boys team suffered its first loss to J.P. Stevens last Friday despite 215 and 229 games in a 629 set from Matt Forthun but bounced back on Monday with 4-0 victories over South Plainfield and South River.
The day belonged to sophomore Chris DeSouza. The left-hander fired off a 277 game in the middle game to help the Vikings score a 995. DeSouza started with a 189 and closed with a 202. As a team the Vikings were consistent with a 919-995-944-2,858 showing.
"Chris is a great bowler," Brian Burniston said. "He gets a lot of speed on the ball, and lot of revolutions. When he’s on he can throw a lot of strikes."
DeSouza did just that during the preseason when he rolled a perfect game in practice. He was averaging 194 through the first five matches.
On Monday, Forthun rolled a 552, Devin Burk produced a 548 (217 high game), Rob Kohutanycz had a 546 and Matt Sichel a 210.
This Saturday both Vikings teams will compete in the Joe Romer Invitational at Brunswick Zone Carolier Lanes an event open to all GMC teams.
Next week is a busy one for the South Brunswick’s teams. On Monday is a tri-match with Woodbridge and Bishop Ahr. On Tuesday they face Old Bridge. On Wednesday is a tri-match against South Amboy and North Brunswick. The week concludes with another tri-match vs. Middlesex and New Brunswick. After that the teams will take a break from competition for the holidays and won’t return to action until Jan. 4.

