Friday Catchup

Just some quick hits from Friday (and some leftovers from Thursday).  Hoping to do a more extensive post about all the weekend tournaments (including Monday's Snowball) and have it posted by Tuesday morning.  We'll see.

Also, I wanted to hit the Long Branch tournament, but there are some technical difficulties with the scoring. I will mention that #7 Ocean Township just lit it up to the tune of 5 600s and a 3274 total, their season high.

Monroe continues to improve, posting a season-high 3129 in a hard-fought 3-1 win over #17 St. Joseph (3087).  Monroe's Louis Folgore has been hot this week, firing 713 in the win. Elsewhere in the GMC, #9 South Brunswick had a nice duel with Edison, prevailing 3-1 / 3057-2936, Old Bridge shot a strong 3048 to sweep South Plainfield, and Sayreville put up 3063 in a sweep of Piscataway (who shot a season-high 2942).

Caldwell's Colin Dromgoole put up 740, which is the SEC-Colonial's top series of the season, on Thursday during a sweep of Irvington.

#6 Toms River South had the Shore-South-A's top set, carding 3123 in a sweep of Southen.

More 700s:
Austin Devereux, Manasquan  724
Chris DeOcampo, Sayreville  705
Anthony Fama, South Brunswick  745

#2 Brick Township put up the day's high set with 2812, featuring a 634 by Victoria Gray.  Kamerin Peters's 619 helped Toms River North sweep #16 Central.

#10 Edison (2598) held off Emily Alvarez (626) and South Brunswick, but did surrender a point, which is a pretty rare occurrence this season.  Second-best GMC set was Monroe with 2526, fueled by Bridget Bolan's 615.  South Plainfield knocked off Old Bridge 3-1, in a match that saw defending state individual champ Lanasia Neal post a big 709.

#8 Holy Angels swept Demarest with a 2038 (4-bowler), which was just a warm-up for Saturday's dominant performance in the Bergen County tournament, but we'll get to that again in a day or two, along with everything else.

Olympic Battle Highlights Midweek Matches

I've heard from some coaches & parents (which has been great), but you never really know who's reading your stuff, until something like this happens.  My comment may have been a little disrespectful, I don't know.  I'll be shocked if it's up there for very long.  Bottom line, the whole point was to get the state's HS bowlers more & better press, so I'm very happy to see these 12 gets some recognition even if its incomplete and they didn't (as of now) do the same for the girls.

Anyway, the usual mid-week lull was broken up by a few great scores: #16 Sussex Tech rode Tim Zayac's 746 to a huge 3237 set. #17 St. Joseph-Metuchen fired five 600s, including Justin Biancamono's 699 to compile a season-high 3215.  Erik (not Karl) Katterman's 737 powered #13 Montville to a big 3190.

Howell put up a season-best 2947 in split decision over Jackson Liberty, and  #19 Pompton Lakes used Nick Cilento's 735 to shoot 2451. Eastern put up a season-high 2942. But #3 Shawnee was at the center of the action.

On Wednesday, the Renegades put up a huge, true 5-man 3266.  Andrew Abbonizio led the way with 724, but Chris Pagliuso, Evan McNally & Tyler Gates all shot 628+ as well. The next day, Shawnee faced off with #10 Cherry Hill East.

It's no secret that most of the firepower in NJ boys bowling comes from the Shore Conference & the GMC, with the occasional interloper from North Jersey.  But the Olympic Conference is for real.  #15 Seneca will probably be the favorite in South Group II, and #2 Brick Memorial will have its hands full with CHE and Shawnee.

Yesterday's duel was a wonderfully competitive true 5-man match. Five of six team games were over 1000, seven series of ten were over 600 (and the other three were mid-to-high fives). CHE took the match 3-1 / 3119-3072, and, as often happens, it was a surprising set that made the difference: previously-191 average Adam Crognale of East came through with a match-high 667.

Link to the boxscore.

Other 700s:

Evan Weinberg, Dayton  768
Matt Burzynski, Dickinson  724
Louis Folgore, Monroe  709
Zak DuHaime, Wallkill Valley  726
also, apologies to Kyle Schellberg of Dumont - I should have noted that his 749 the other day included a 300

Not a whole lot of fireworks on the girls' side, to be honest.  # 6 Ocean Township's big two took a backseat to teammate Alexa Tieto, who fired a big 652 to lead the Spartans to a 2647 set and a 3-0 win. #15 Howell put up a season-best 2559 as they try to chase down #14 Freehold Township in the Shore-Central-B.

#11 Edison put up another solid number, 2581, in a sweep of Woodbridge.  The Eagles are 47-1 in the GMC.

Hopatcong's Rhianna Smith made it two 700s this week, connecting for 705.

Other 600s:

Kiara Powell, Union  626
Lanasia Neal, South Plainfield  645-604
Marissa Cosentini, Wayne Valley  613
Olivia Wank, Bergen Tech  614
Jessica Kling, Lakewood  609

We'll try to check in on Friday's results at some point, and then it's a huge tournament weekend: Central Jersey Classic & Bergen County girls tomorrow, Snowball Classic on Monday.  Probably others: if anybody gets full results of any other tournament they want to share, please email me.

Top 25 Averages in NJ (Boys & Girls)

Couple of notes (aren't there always): First, this is as up-to-date as I could make it; some scores from the current week aren't in yet.  Second, these are averages from conference/league play only - no tournament scores are included.  Third, I can't swear to the accuracy of some of them: while many come directly from public-facing standing sheets, some are figured by numbers taken from nj.com, which may not be complete. Fourth, and most importantly, if I'm missing someone or something is significantly inaccurate, PLEASE let me know (and apologies in advance). I'm especially concerned that I may have missed a handful of girls who bowl on boys teams.  I'm trying to compile something approaching an all-state watch list (trying to do a little better than what we've had, which seems to be based on state tournament results almost exclusively).  Of course, just because a bowler's name's not here doesn't mean that he or she is out of the running by any stretch: lots of season to go, and tournament performances do (and will) matter.

THE TOP 25 BOYS AVERAGES

1.  235 - Andrew Lazarchick, Brick Memorial
2.  234 - Matthew Stephens, Egg Harbor
3.  231 - Matt Burzynski, Dickinson
4.  229 - Andrew Abbonizio, Shawnee
5.  228 - Jordan Malizia, Brick Township
5.  228 - Chris Pagliuso, Shawnee
7.  226 - Sam Bortnick, East Brunswick
7.  226 - David Grant, Fort Lee
9.  225 - Erik Katterman, Montville
9.  225 - Anthony Mathis, Cherry Hill East
9.  225 - Evan Weinberg, Dayton
12. 224 - Austin Devereux, Manasquan
13. 223 - James Stoveken, Woodbridge
14. 222 - Nick Cilento, Pompton Lakes
15. 221 - Colin Dromgoole, Caldwell
16. 220 - Kyle Bilawsky, Woodbridge
17. 220 - Joe Ocello, St. Rose
17. 220 - Ryan Donohue, Lyndhurst
19. 219 - Jared Duncan, Indian Hills
19. 219 - Matthew Young, Eastern
21. 218 - Chris DeOcampo, Sayreville
21. 218 - Jacob Boris, Seneca
21. 218 - Kyle Schellberg, Dumont
21. 218 - Zak DuHaime, Wallkill Valley
25. 217 - Cameron LaPlant, JP Stevens
25. 217 - Matt Redbord, Ocean Township
25. 217 - Derek Lewandowski, Ridgefield Park

THE TOP 25 GIRLS AVERAGES

1.  218 - Kamerin Peters, Toms River North
2.  213 - Aimee Sherman, Jackson Memorial
3.  210 - Michelle Dekowski, Linden
4.  207 - Jenn Ingulli, Ocean Township
4.  207 - Jillian Stuart, Brick Memorial
4.  207 - Alize Stevenson, St. Mary's
7.  205 - Lanasia Neal, South Plainfield
8.  203 - Amanda Shelters, Brick Memorial
9.  202 - Lauren Potechin, Millburn
9.  202 - Dana Henry, Ocean Township
9.  202 - Sarah Pitcher, Brick Memorial
12. 199 - Jamie Golden, Sparta
13. 197 - Katie Robb, Kingsway
13. 197 - Clare Chaffer, Freehold Township
15. 196 - Rhianna Smith, Hopatcong
16. 195 - DorrieAnne Rizzo, Wallkill Valley
16. 195 - Sara Smith, Manasquan
18. 194 - Victoria Bird, Brick Memorial
18. 194 - Jenna Henderson, Warren Hills
20. 193 - Kelcie Mannon, Warren Hills
21. 192 - Laura Oliver, Central
22. 192 - Caylin Ryan, Brick Township
22. 192 - Victoria Gray, Brick Township
22. 192 - Madison Perry, Hawthorne
25. 191 - Marissa Cosentini, Wayne Valley
25. 191 - Heather Melendez, South Plainfield
25. 191 - Goldera Surles, Union Catholic
25. 191 - Sarah Orensky, Freehold Township