Montclair High School bowling teams racking up the pins for the 2022-23 winter season
The Montclair High School bowling teams have been tearing up the lanes so far in the 2022-23 season.
As of the end of last week, the boys were 9-1 in the Super Essex Conference standings while the girls were 7-3. The boys are in first place in the SEC American Division, while girls are a match behind undefeated Nutley in the SEC, which only has one girls division.
Montclair head coach Jenna Totaro is aiming for the boys to take the American and for the girls to hold onto second in the conference.
In addition, she is looking for both the girls and boys to finish in the top three in the Essex County Tournament in the middle of February at Hanover Lanes in East Hanover.
On the boys side, Montclair will be looking to outscore the likes of West Orange, Seton Hall Prep, Irvington and Nutley in the county tournament. On the girls side, Nutley is the favorite.
Coming into the 2022-23 season the expectations for the boys team were high, as they lost only one team member to graduation in the spring (Sam Philo, first team All SEC). They have lived up to those expectations, registering six shutout matches out of their nine victories. The lone loss so far was to Irvington, 5-2, on Dec. 14.
Leading the way this season has been junior Tai Burns, who was named to the All SEC American first team last season and had a high series at the North Jersey 1B state sectional at 704. His high single game so far this season is 218.
"For Tai to be unstoppable he has to be consistent in his anchor role," Totaro said. "Sometimes he will fluctuate, but overall, he has been killing it when we need him to be."
The Montclair boys have a pair of other top bowlers back this season, seniors Hudson Zinn and Daniel Walker, who were All SEC American second team last season. Both have been instrumental so far this year. Zinn's high game was 223 and Walker's 244, so there is big upside for both. The boys team has also received contributions from senior Jasper Spoor, who had a high game of 206.
On the girls side, the top players back this season are a pair of seniors, Hazel Aiello and Abigail Price, who were All SEC first and second team, respectively, last season. Aiello is the anchor this year.
The pair have helped lead a solid foursome on the squad with high games in the 150s. Another senior, Georgia Pendas, is the third part of the foursome.
The biggest addition is sophomore Brooklyn Awad, who fills out the group.
"She has definitely impacted this girls varsity team," Totaro said. "She is very versatile and is able to be consistent when she bowls."