High school bowling teams achieve postseason success

Brick township's four high school bowling teams never before have enjoyed such a show of strength in numbers.

Both girls and boys teams at Brick Township and Brick Memorial advanced to the Shore Conference Tournament championships at Sea Girt Lanes, with one of those teams finishing first in the A South girls and boys divisions and the other one was second to advance.

And one of them- Brick Township's girls - on Sunday secured its second straight Shore Conference title by leading fromstart to finish. The runner-up? BrickMemorial.

Add to that Brick Township's returning to the NJSIAA finals on Monday at Carolier Lanes in North Brunswick with its first-ever NJSIAA Group III section title in coach Cara Lukosius' 10 seasons, behind Travis Breitenbruck's second 300 game this season and a 290 from Jay Lane (a spare on the first ball before he struck out from there), for the third straight year, along with both girls teams also qualifying for their final on Friday at the same lanes, and it's quite a season to remember. Brick Memorial's girls were second in the state finals last year.

"I talked to many longtime coaches, and no one remembers anything like this happening before," said Brick Memorial boys coach Mike Rusomano, whose team fell 33 pins short of reaching the boys finals in the sectional championships in Cherry Hill on Saturday.With the top two teams advancing, BrickMemorial finished third and had the lead going into the third and final game before faltering.

"It's just that bowling is a big-time sport in Brick," said Brick Township boys coach Cara Lukosius. "People may not realize it. Some towns hype up basketball and football, but these kids here work 365 days a year, and we know the school and parents support system is unbelievable. And they [the players] support each other. Even the schools support each other, which could make other towns jealous because they don't understand how we can compete so hard against each other but be there for each other for support, too."

But it didn't come without some suspense beforehand. Brick Township girls finished tied for the second and final qualifying spot in A South with Toms River East but won on a roll-off on Saturday, sweeping the first two games of a best-ofthree series after sealing it with a strong finish in the second game.

Although their scores were a bit subpar in the tournament on Sunday, they were good enough to hold off Brick Memorial, 2,838-2,766, a 72-pin edge. Howell was third with 2,699.

"All bowled well together, but nobody stood out," said Brick Township coach Linda Sarraf, whose team was familiar

with Sea Girt, having practiced there at times during the season when

their home house, Ocean Lanes, was unavailable.

"This was a pleasant surprise, but I knew we had the

talent."

Kayla Salerno led the way

with a 618 series off games of 202,152 and 212. The other four bowlers had good scores and were

closely grouped, with 25 pins separating them.

Caitlyn Dorey followed with a 566 series off games of 202 and 212, and D'Anna Farmer finished off her 558 series after a slow start with 194 and 203 games. Nicole Nardiello rolled a 225 game midway through her 555 series. Katarina Kiseli, who finished second inASouth in average and bowled on Monday this week in the individual championships with Brick Memorial's Jess Abrecht, started her 541 series with a 193 and ended it with a 184, but the rest of the team showed its balance by picking up its games.

Brick Township got off to a solid start, and Brick Memorial struggled in the second game to fall further behind. The Green Dragons had a 933-911 edge over Brick Memorial after the first game and a 928-867 advantage in the second for an 83-pin lead, and coach David Thompson began shuffling his lineup as he has done so often in the past.

Katelyn Christie rolled only two games, a 205 and a 182, before coming out of the lineup. Kim Icker posted only one solid game, a 204. Brittany Morris finished off a 198 second game. Becky Sherman, who bowled in the individual state championships on Tuesday, had a 192.

Even the Brick individual boys qualifiers struggled on Sunday as Lane finished ninth overall with a 572 series and Breitenbruck was 12th with a 546.

But Thompson was heartened by his team's upsurge at the end.

"Midway through the third game, we hit seven strikes in a row and everybody was marking, and I thought we'd make it a game, but then we left some up in the ninth [frame]," said Thompson.

Brick Township's girls advanced to the finals by sweeping the rolloff over Toms River East, 1,017- 854 and 1,005-936. Kiseli led the way with games of 259 and 209, followed by Nardiello with 209 and 203, Farmer with 209 and 198, and Dorey with 197 and 181.

As for Brick Township's boys, they could not start much better in the Group III sectionals: Breitenbruck had no trouble striking all the way through the first game, and Lane followed with his 290 for the top two scores of the day. A year ago, the Green Dragons secured their spot in the state finals despite finishing third in the sectionals when Lakewood was disqualified. Brick finished eighth.

"When he started practicing, he had a beautiful shot," Lukosius said of Breitenbruck. "He was clear all the way though, and I knew he'd bowl well."

"I felt pretty confident from the start and from the practice [beforehand]," Breitenbruck said of his 300 game that led to a team-high 738 series. "It was different from Saturday [in the Shore Conference individuals], where everybody struggled."

For Breitenbruck, it's a hectic schedule.

He also bowled in the state individuals on Tuesday and comes back this Monday

for the state finals.

"I haven't stopped bowling since Thursday, and I'll keep going through Tuesday [this week]," Breitenbruck said with a laugh on Sunday. "I'll do the best I can.We have to pull together as a team on Monday [in the state finals]. I hope I can pick it up. I did it in the past."

Lukosius is confident about her team's chances on Monday as it bids for its first state title in her 10 years as coach.

"They are definitely bowlingmuch better than they did three weeks ago," said Lukosius. "They're adjusting quicker andmaking better shots and not swinging the ball a lot."

Breitenbruck also had games of 225 and 213. Lane followed his 290with games of 203 and 215 in a 708 series, and Nick Melon opened his 618 series with a 201 and ended

it with a 235. T.J. Contino had games

of 258 and 210, and T.J. Morrison

had a 213.

Lukosius was pleased with how her team bounced back after a weak second game, a

996, by rolling a 1,114 in the

third game. The Green Dragons

opened with a 1,166 and

had a 3,256 series. Cherry Hill

West was second with a 3,155.

As for Brick Memorial, freshman Domenick Luongo,who shot an 802 series in the final Shore ConferenceASouthmatch of the season off 20 straight strikes, kept his sharp formin theGroup IVsectionalswith a 666 off games of 196, 267 and 203.

"We bowled well in the first two games and then we let it slip away," said Rusomano, whose 3,153-pin total was 33 pins shy of Toms River North's second-place finish, 3,186-3,153. Cherry Hill East was first at 3,241.

Kyle Murphy followed Luongo with a 651 series highlighted by games of 223 and 247, and Erik Haas also topped his 634 pinfall with a 247. Jon Geller, who had finished just short of qualifying for the Shore Conference individual championships with a fourth-place finish, chipped in a 230 game and 623 series.