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Girls Bowling
Because of enrollment, Sweet Home, 6-3 in ECIC I last year, returns to ECIC II. Lady Panthers coach Jim Russo would have liked to have stayed in ECIC I. “I would have liked to have stayed in the other division because I don’t know what to expect from the other teams,” said Russo, now in his fourth year coaching the team. “Last year was a real challenge. I think because we had gone undefeated the previous three years, we thought we were a pretty good team and then at (ECIC) Rolloffs and sectionals, we would face other teams and it would be tough... Facing teams like Frontier and Clarence (in ECIC I) makes us a better team.” Russo returns ten bowlers but his top two averages, Sarah Poley and Nikki Voelker, both 185, graduated. As of this writing, Sweet Home’s “A” team is comprised of junior Amanda Page, sophomore Margaret Wahl, and eighth graders Gina Picone and Charlene Cinelli. The “B” team is made of seniors Jacquie Johnson and Ashley Brant and juniors Shannon Huebert and anchor Jillian Nasisi. The “C” team will feature junior Nikki Giselman and freshmen newcomers Courtney Smith and Kaitlyn Gruzweig. Eighth grader Kaylee Kaminski could bowl on “B” or “C”. Russo said senior Allison Boziski had to quit the team to prepare for college at Harvard University. Page, on the squad since eighth grade, is the “A” team’s anchor and will battle Picone for the team’s top average. Page averaged 173 last year, Picone averaged 152. Page led Sweet Home at the Maryvale Holiday Tournament on Dec. 4 with a 608 series. Page is co-captain with Wahl, who has bowled for Sweet Home since seventh grade. Russo said Picone has the ability to be a good bowler. “I think she could be the next Lindsay Baker (Sweet Home grad who is a junior at University of Nebraska, led NCAA with a 215 average, named 2005-06 National Tenpin Coaches Association Player of the Year),” said Russo. “She’s way ahead of the curve right now. She’s slowly maturing from last year but I’m real enthusiastic about where she’s going to be.” Russo said Nasisi could be the surprise of the team. “She’s like a sponge,” said Russo. “She listens to everything and is really consistent on spares. If we can get her to throw more strikes, she could raise her average significantly.” With such a young team, Russo is finding he has to coach more of the mental game of bowling rather than actual technique. “They all know how to throw the ball, get strikes and make spares,” he said. “We just need to grow up a little bit and get that maturity needed to take us to the next level. And I’m seeing that.” Sweet Home opened the season with a 10th place finish at the Maryvale Tournament. “We have our work cut out for us,” said Russo. “It was pretty evident at the Maryvale tournament that teams like Lockport and Frontier are so much ahead of us talent wise.”
Russo said one of his goals this season is for every bowler on the squad to compete on “A” or “B” to get their varsity letter. |
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