The "returning stars" list is comprised of any bowler not on the preseason all-state list who made one of the all-state teams last year, or made honorable mention, plus a few returning seniors of note.
Jared Ammugauan, Senior, St. Peter's
John Boughton, Junior, Brick Memorial
Kenny Burdge, Sophomore, Manchester
Gerard Chidichimo, Senior, Jackson Liberty
John Drost, Senior, Woodbridge
Louis Folgore, Junior, Monroe
Nick Greco, Junior, Fair Lawn
Nick Gross, Senior, Brick Township
Aaron Heimall, Senior, Roselle Park
Alec Hehir, Senior, Brick Memorial
Dan Kenny, Junior, Maple Shade
Justin Korman, Senior, Manalapan
Cameron LaPlant, Junior, JP Stevens
Eric Lawson, Senior, Warren Hills
Daniel Lenk, Junior, East Brunswick
Derek Lewandowski, Senior, Ridgefield Park
Michael Liu, Sophomore, Livingston
Ryan McGuire, Senior, Indian Hills
Robert Murray, Senior, Morris Knolls
Kyle Oliveri, Senior, Toms River South
Ray Ramos, Senior, Dickinson
Matt Redbord, Senior, Ocean Township
Angelo Salici, Senior, South Plainfield
Joey Steele, Senior, Sussex Tech
Nick Striffler, Senior, Lacey
Luis Torres, Sophomore, Roselle
Monday, November 20, 2017
Friday, November 17, 2017
17-18 Preseason All-State Team
Lots of returning talent coming back; none of these names should come as much of a surprise to anyone. Just a note: I decided that freshmen shouldn't be on this list before ever throwing a shot at the high school level, even though there are 1 or 2 out there that probably merit inclusion. We'll get to them later on the preview calendar.
PRESEASON BOYS ALL-STATE TEAM
Sam Bortnick, Senior, East Brunswick
If the only bowling I'd ever seen Bortnick do was the job he did as anchor in the TOC last year, leading his team to a championship, that might be enough for this spot. Throw in two full seasons averaging over 220 and it's a no-brainer.
Matt Burzynski, Senior, Dickinson
After averaging 220 in the regular season, the lefty tore up the postseason, carding sets of 772-774-761 over sectionals, team states and individuals, and helping carry his team to a strong 5th place at states.
Anthony Mathis, Sophomore, Cherry Hill East
Just a freshman in 2016-17, Mathis burst on the scene with a huge 219 average and shot 711 to lead his team to the state finals in an impossibly tough sectional. Just missed the stepladder at individuals with a big 734-684.
Joey Ocello, Junior, Neptune
After a fantastic sophomore season that included a 300 game, a 799 series, a 226 average and a runnerup finish in the Shore Singles event, Ocello spent the offseason crushing tournaments, and beating over 1000 competitors in the National Junior Gold U-20 division despite being one of the youngest in the event.
James Stoveken, Junior, Woodbridge
The national career leader in high school 300 games is only halfway through his career, and the idea that he might get even better is more than a little scary. Stoveken averaged 226 in conference games, won the GMC tournament and the Central Jersey Winter Classic and his four postseason series were 729-760-761-812. These two-handers are here to stay, huh?
Evan Weinberg, Senior, Jonathan Dayton
Weinberg's been a top flight talent since before he started high school, and he keeps getting better. In 2017, he raised his average 12 pins to 222, put up good numbers for his team in the postseason (668-671), and made the final stepladder after shooting 738-717 at individuals.
PRESEASON GIRLS ALL-STATE TEAM
Four of the five girls who made the individual stepladder in 2017 are back. Could be quite a few big scores on the girls' side this year.
Julianna Forbes, Senior, Brick Township
Simply a fantastic tournament bowler, winning the Wheeler, firing 685 at sectionals and 661-714 at individuals as well as winning two stepladder matches. Forbes' regular season average dipped a bit from her sophomore season, but there's no denying her talent or her presence on this team.
Lanasia Neal, Senior, South Plainfield
One of the best careers in recent memory will end with a victory tour in 2018. After winning the individual championship in 2016, Neal shot an afternoon 734 to make it back to the stepladder in 2017. She also had the high series at the James, came in second in North Jersey Singles, averaged 206 in the GMC and won the conference tournament.
Kamerin Peters, Sophomore, Toms River North
After as dominant a freshman season as we've ever seen, including a 215 average and a postseason of 697-722-773-730, what could Peters do for an encore? Over the summer, she finished 18th in a field of 327 of the best U15 girls in the country, missing the match play finals by just 6 pins.
Katie Robb, Senior, Kingsway
One of the strongest performers in the state for a couple of years, averaging 198 & 201 the last two, Robb really made everyone take notice at individual states, posting 717-670 and a fourth place finish. Showed well at Junior Gold, missing the cut by just 86 pins and besting hundreds of older girls.
Rhianna Smith, Senior, Hopatcong/Mt. Olive
There's no doubt Smith is one of New Jersey's best. A fluid lefty with strong mechanics, she's made the individual stepladder twice (2015 & 2016), and averaged 197 last season with a handful of 700s, not to mention an excellent tournament track record in non-HS events.
Amanda Shelters, Junior, Brick Memorial
Has already forged a fine career, averaging over 200 and being part of a state championship team, but Shelters really proved her tournament chops at Junior Gold, making the U20 cut after averaging over 186 over 4 days on 4 different sport patterns. Memorial lost 3 more seniors this year; don't be surprised to see Shelters take a huge leap forward.
PRESEASON BOYS ALL-STATE TEAM
Sam Bortnick, Senior, East Brunswick
If the only bowling I'd ever seen Bortnick do was the job he did as anchor in the TOC last year, leading his team to a championship, that might be enough for this spot. Throw in two full seasons averaging over 220 and it's a no-brainer.
Matt Burzynski, Senior, Dickinson
After averaging 220 in the regular season, the lefty tore up the postseason, carding sets of 772-774-761 over sectionals, team states and individuals, and helping carry his team to a strong 5th place at states.
Anthony Mathis, Sophomore, Cherry Hill East
Just a freshman in 2016-17, Mathis burst on the scene with a huge 219 average and shot 711 to lead his team to the state finals in an impossibly tough sectional. Just missed the stepladder at individuals with a big 734-684.
Joey Ocello, Junior, Neptune
After a fantastic sophomore season that included a 300 game, a 799 series, a 226 average and a runnerup finish in the Shore Singles event, Ocello spent the offseason crushing tournaments, and beating over 1000 competitors in the National Junior Gold U-20 division despite being one of the youngest in the event.
James Stoveken, Junior, Woodbridge
The national career leader in high school 300 games is only halfway through his career, and the idea that he might get even better is more than a little scary. Stoveken averaged 226 in conference games, won the GMC tournament and the Central Jersey Winter Classic and his four postseason series were 729-760-761-812. These two-handers are here to stay, huh?
Evan Weinberg, Senior, Jonathan Dayton
Weinberg's been a top flight talent since before he started high school, and he keeps getting better. In 2017, he raised his average 12 pins to 222, put up good numbers for his team in the postseason (668-671), and made the final stepladder after shooting 738-717 at individuals.
PRESEASON GIRLS ALL-STATE TEAM
Four of the five girls who made the individual stepladder in 2017 are back. Could be quite a few big scores on the girls' side this year.
Julianna Forbes, Senior, Brick Township
Simply a fantastic tournament bowler, winning the Wheeler, firing 685 at sectionals and 661-714 at individuals as well as winning two stepladder matches. Forbes' regular season average dipped a bit from her sophomore season, but there's no denying her talent or her presence on this team.
Lanasia Neal, Senior, South Plainfield
One of the best careers in recent memory will end with a victory tour in 2018. After winning the individual championship in 2016, Neal shot an afternoon 734 to make it back to the stepladder in 2017. She also had the high series at the James, came in second in North Jersey Singles, averaged 206 in the GMC and won the conference tournament.
Kamerin Peters, Sophomore, Toms River North
After as dominant a freshman season as we've ever seen, including a 215 average and a postseason of 697-722-773-730, what could Peters do for an encore? Over the summer, she finished 18th in a field of 327 of the best U15 girls in the country, missing the match play finals by just 6 pins.
Katie Robb, Senior, Kingsway
One of the strongest performers in the state for a couple of years, averaging 198 & 201 the last two, Robb really made everyone take notice at individual states, posting 717-670 and a fourth place finish. Showed well at Junior Gold, missing the cut by just 86 pins and besting hundreds of older girls.
Rhianna Smith, Senior, Hopatcong/Mt. Olive
There's no doubt Smith is one of New Jersey's best. A fluid lefty with strong mechanics, she's made the individual stepladder twice (2015 & 2016), and averaged 197 last season with a handful of 700s, not to mention an excellent tournament track record in non-HS events.
Amanda Shelters, Junior, Brick Memorial
Has already forged a fine career, averaging over 200 and being part of a state championship team, but Shelters really proved her tournament chops at Junior Gold, making the U20 cut after averaging over 186 over 4 days on 4 different sport patterns. Memorial lost 3 more seniors this year; don't be surprised to see Shelters take a huge leap forward.
Wednesday, November 15, 2017
aaaand we're back.
Today marks the beginning of tryouts and practices for the entirety of New Jersey high school bowling, and I, for one, am pretty excited.
We have 14 high school bowlers returning who made one of my all-state teams, as well as 29 who were listed as honorable mentions. A bunch of kids were impressive in tournaments over the off-season: Junior Bowlers Tour (New Jersey and Pennsylvania), Central Jersey Junior Girls Challenge, and the national Junior Gold finals in Cleveland back in July. There's a world of talent here.
I sent out an email blast to every coach in my address book looking to pick up some information about this year's squads, and to make some suggestions & requests for the future, and I've heard back from several (thanks!), but I'll renew the request here and include parents: new bowlers I might not know about, anyone who's made a major improvement, coaching changes, transfers - anything that can help make my rankings fair and accurate is appreciated. Just as importantly, I want to encourage every single league, conference and division to have a public-facing standings sheet as well as reporting results to nj.com. Many do, and they're awesome (especially those on leaguesecretary.com), but there are several major bowling conferences that don't have, for instance, player averages available. No other sport seems to conspire to hide their results quite like bowling. Let's end that.
Another thing that's been hard to find is a listing of in-season tournaments. I assume that these are communicated between coaches and ADs throughout the state, and that's fine, but a public listing would be great. The Shore Conference affiliated tournaments are listed on their site (link), so any coaches looking for a tournament should check it out. And any tournament results sent along to me would be great, too.
Anyway, I've been trying to collect as much information as possible before the season starts for real on December 2, working on preseason all-state teams, a list of returning stars, a sampling of up & coming bowlers (including some impact freshmen) and a reasonable guess at a preseason top 20 for both boys and girls. These will be posted over the next few weeks.
But first, I need to talk about Greg.
My original intention when starting this blog was to remain mostly anonymous, but my own technical stupidity put my name on everything from the jump. As a result, many, if not most, of you know that my kid bowls for Warren Hills. We at Warren Hills lost a big part of our family when longtime coach Greg Rottengen passed away in August. He was 74.
I'd known Greg for about 25 years - first as a competitor when we bowled against each other in leagues in the 90s, then as a coach when he worked a bit with my daughter during Saturday morning leagues at Oakwood Lanes, and finally as a highly successful coach at the high school level. I didn't know that he taught science for 35 years, or that he had been in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War. It was always all about the bowling.
After the age of 50 (and a lifetime of bowling) Greg became a PBA member, competing in many regional and senior events, earned his way into the Morris County Bowling hall of fame with his on-lane performance.and he worked to become a silver-level USBC-certified coach. Personally, I think the coaching was the high point.
Decades of bowling experience, technical expertise and an extensive teaching background made him an ideal coach for the kids at Oakwood Lanes. While Oakwood is the home of Warren Hills bowling, it's also a regional center, and the youth program draws kids from a huge area. Over the years, Greg worked, at least a little, with kids from Warren Hills, Phillipsburg, Belvidere, Warren Tech, Hackettstown, North Warren, West Morris Central, Sparta, Morris Tech, Immaculata, Voorhees, North Hunterdon, Hunterdon Central and Mount Olive. Probably more.
His work as Warren Hills' head coach was extraordinary. In a sport dominated by Shore Conference, GMC and Olympic Conference squads, we had this little oasis of excellence at the only bowling program in Warren County. Greg did exactly what we all say we want from coaches - he was flexible enough to coach each bowler a little differently: laying back when necessary, getting very technical when it was warranted, laying down discipline if the situation demanded it, and being an absolute goofball when the team needed to loosen up. Greg was named North Jersey or state coach of the year at least four times. In the process, he produced dozens of excellent bowlers, including future college bowlers, all-conference & all-area selections, and a smattering of all-staters. I'm hesitant to start listing names because I'll leave out a whole bunch, but Darren Flynn, Michele DeVries, John Mercurio, Ben & Abby Laws, Justin Walker, Jessica Yerance, Aaron Argondizzo, Elizabeth Hudock, Greg Ryback, Lauren Scholes, Mike Handley, Jenna Henderson, Bobby Collins, Sammie Pearson, Brian Duke, Ryan Stephany, Darryl Price and current seniors Eric Lawson, Avante Wilson and Katie Winch have all made their mark. Anyway, it was always the team that mattered most, and Warren Hills won 9 sectional championships under Greg, including both the boys and girls teams the past two years, and he finally reached the mountaintop when the 2017 girls won the state Group 3 title and the Tournament of Champions.
The bowling program had a small memorial get-together before school started, and more than two dozen past, present and future Blue Streaks came together to remember Greg; even more attended the memorial at the funeral home. He meant a lot to the program, and to the kids, and will be missed terribly.
During this most recent run of success for the Warren Hills program, Greg expressed several times how impressed he was with the sustained talent level on the team, that new freshmen kept entering the program ready to contribute, and that the younger kids just keep getting better. He said more than once how lucky he was to be a part of a program like this.
We were even luckier to have had him.
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