I always loved that bowling leagues had a "most improved" award. Not many sports have an objective way to determine the most improved player. So I figured I'd try to do some version of it, state-wide.
THIS IS NOT EXHAUSTIVE. NOT EVEN CLOSE. As surprising as this may be, I don't actually have the bandwidth to track all 2000 or so high school bowlers in New Jersey. The ones included are the bowlers that hit my radar this year, for one reason or another (usually high scores, of course). There are, I'm positive, dozens and dozens of bowlers who deserve to be on this page but I missed them. If anyone gives me an example of a 20+ pin jump, I will add the bowlers to this page.
There are a disproportionate number of GMC bowlers on this list. Not sure if that's due to the way I track things (i.e., I'm missing some from other conferences), the shot changes at Woodbridge and Majestic, or a genuine imbalance, but it goes a long way toward explaining why they were the top conference overall this year.
Improvement is based on (2018 overall average) - (2017 conference average). Not perfect, obviously. But these athletes deserve some recognition and this formula seemed the fairest, most objective way.
+20
Matthew Grey, Sussex Tech
How do the Mustangs keep winning titles? Improvements like this, from 179 as a freshman to 199 as a sophomore
Nick Melchionna, Union
Elevated from 176 to 196 as a junior, helping Union become a true state contender
Allie Adamski, Mahwah
A big part of Mahwah's great season was this junior improving from 144 to 164
Tori Johnson, Edison
Evolved from a good #3 (163) to high-scoring anchor (183) as a senior
Lacey Beall, Union
Big leap from 164 to 184 another key ingredient to the Farmers' success
+21
Lou Morales, Seton Hall Prep
Jumped all the way to fourth in the SECC at 195 after averaging just 174 as a sophomore
Paul Isgett, Morris Hills
MH survived graduation losses in large part due to his big jump from 182 to 203
David MacGillivray, Barnegat
Went from very good (199) to truly elite (220) and still has another year left
Wyatt Buchany, Edison
Helped his team join the top tier of the GMC, going up from 190 to 211
Zac Waynor, Monroe
2017 (179) postseason was an appetizer, 2018 regular season (200) was the meal
Alex Bursac, North Brunswick
Most improved team in the state, by far, in no small part due to Bursac's jump from 170 to 191
Morgan Gitlitz, Colts Neck
Already very good as a freshman (174), she dominated as a soph, finishing at 195 overall
Sydney Ramos, East Brunswick
A big reason EB was so much better than expected, leaping from 127 to 148 as a senior
Eleni Feggulis, South River
Decent sophomore year (167), but joined the GMC's elite as a junior at 188
Julia Muro, Lacey
Improving from 160 to 181 and winning a state title. Not a bad senior year.
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+22
Derek Weigl, Bergenfield
Found a new level for a much-improved Bergenfield team, rising from 168 to 190 as a senior
+23
Thomas McKeon, Keansburg
Sophomore slump (186) left far, far behind: 212 in 35 tournament games, 209 overall
Lindsay Pepper, Ramsey
After 156 as a sophomore, jumped all the way to the state's top 50 at 179
+24
David Burrows, North Brunswick
Led North Brunswick's huge improvement rising from 184 to 208 his senior year. I absolutely dropped the ball not having NC coach Aimee McCormick on the top coaching performances list.
Matthew Marletta, Morris Tech
Best bowler in the state that I didn't know about before the season started. Senior year jump from 198 to a whopping 222
Liam Graf, Senior, Wall Township
167-to-191 jump as a senior helped Wall to a very strong season
Conor Quigley, St. Joseph-Metuchen
Newest member of St. Joe's Army of Depth improved from 178 all the way to 202
Emilie Carr, Point Pleasant Boro
Only 142 as a freshman, finished '18 as the second highest average in SCA and 166 overall
Jackie Nesbeth, Warren Hills
Senior year jump from 127 to 151 a big reason Warren Hills was able to repeat as champs
+25
Nick Thies, Jefferson
Great postseason in 2017 carried over to a full season, jumping from 191 to 216
Isaac Russel, Oratory Prep
171 as a sophomore, but among the Union-Mountain elite at 196 in 2018
+26
Daniel Lenk, East Brunswick
From great (216) to otherwordly (242)
Brian McAdams, JP Stevens
Freshman-year 176 left far behind in tenth grade (202)
Breanna Tolocka, Woodbridge
That sophomore jump (135 to 161 in this case) is always awesome, and here it helped the Woodbridge team to a much better season than expected
Stacey Phung, Egg Harbor
Great leap forward for the junior, from 136 to 162 (171 in tournaments)
Cloe Lowell, Eastern
Helped the Vikings stay among the state's best by improving from 156 to 182
Faby Jean-Denis, Edison
One of the reasons Edison survived huge graduation losses: freshman 145 grew to sophomore 171
+27
Dylan Heinold, Wayne Hills
Peer pressure of the best kind, as this sophomore with so many talented teammates rose to 203 after 176 last year.
Andrew Mai, East Brunswick
181 in 2017 all the way to 208 and a huge part of the #1 team his senior year
+28
Tom Laskay, Freehold Township
177 as a junior, averaged a blistering 221 in tournaments and 205 overall as a senior.
Athena Greer, Wall Township
Wall's huge team improvement started right here, with Greer's improvement from 135 to 163 during her junior year
+29
Anthony Golabek, Linden
This is how youth movements happen: 173-averaging freshman pulls himself all the way to 202.
Rachel Duncan, Indian Hills
Went from decent as a soph (153) to one of the very best in the Big North as a junior (182), picking up a TOC slot as well.
Kaitlyn Lowey, Union Catholic
152 as a junior, but a completely different bowler in 2018: 188 in tournaments, 181 overall.
+30
Victoria Stasicky, Monroe
Went from a pretty good junior (164) to one of the absolute best in the state as a senior (194)
+31
Shaun Boffard, South Plainfield
174 as a freshman all the way to 205 as a sophomore.
Will Orak, Colonia
Colonia as a team jumped 50 pins per game; Orak was a huge reason why, going from 169 up to 200.
Armen Shamim, East Brunswick
I think I figured out how East Brunswick got so much better than everyone else; 3rd Bear on the list. 177 as a freshman, 208 as a sophomore.
+33
Sean Cruz, Clifton
Clifton's Big Two became a Big Three with Cruz's jump from 169 to 202 (and a spot in the TOC)
+34
Rebecca Hoff, Colonia
Not only improved her average from 142 to 176 as a sophomore, became a killer tournament bowler as well, averaging 189 across 18 tournament games.
Rachel Guida, South Brunswick
Her 136-to-170 improvement as a junior strikes me as particularly impressive, and must have required an awful lot of work.
+35
Madison Steinbeck, East Brunswick
157 as a junior was decent, but she found an entirely new level as a senior, averaging 192 and making it to individual states
+46
Angela Baginsky, Carteret
Averaged 114 over 5 games in 2017 as a freshman, up to 160 in 2018. Stunning.
+60
Eliza Abreu, Woodbridge
Not a typo. I checked it twice. Jumping from 116 a a sophomore to a very strong 176 as a junior is a testament to what a driven athlete can accomplish.
+67
Joseph Abadilla, Carteret
Holy cow. From 135 as a sophomore to 202 overall and a 684 at Sectionals as a junior. That should be inspiring to bowlers and coaches everywhere. Also, I'm now thinking that Carteret coach Nick Panos should have been on that list I put out last week.
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