One of the great things about bowling as a winter sport is, you don’t have to be outside during inclement weather. The drawback, of course, is that winter weather can affect whether or not matches and tournaments get held, as it already has once this week.
The 2013 North Jersey Singles Classic is scheduled for tomorrow at Parkway Lanes in Elmwood Park, and the latest word from tournament director Mike LoPresti is that his crew will try to condense things to get people headed home as soon as possible — meaning no introductions, shortened lunch break, etc.
Varsity Aces will monitor the situation and provide updates on Twitter. Now to provide some overdue news and notes…
Again, apologies for not being able to attend last weekend’s 3rd annual Tom Irwin Memorial Crusader Classic. In lieu of long-winded explanations, below are the results. Again, for those just tuning in, Tom Irwin was the Bergen Catholic bowling coach from 1963 to 2005 and led the Crusaders to 10 Bergen County championships (8 overall, 2 in Groups 3-4), as well as state titles in 1998 and 1999. He passed away at age 74 almost a year to the day (Dec. 6, 2012) before this season’s tournament, which was held on Dec. 7. This is the first year that the tournament has been named in his honor.
Second-year program Montville (which probably would have gotten coverage on WGHT) held off Lyndhurst for the boys title, although the Golden Bears answered one big question. How could they make up for the scoring they lost when Lexus Lopez graduated? Why, with freshman Ryan Donohue, of course, who won high series with a 706.
Defending Bergen County champ Paramus Catholic topped league rival Holy Angels for the girls title, as seniors Ameera Khan (637) and Nikki Vucak (590) rolled the two highest series. Both the Paladins and Angels graduated their anchor bowlers, but boy, do those programs know how to reload. Hopefully, I’ll get a chance to see their girls in action tomorrow (translation: SNOW, GO AWAY).
One more quick thing before we get to the numbers… yes, this used to be the weekend of the FDU Holiday Team Challenge, and the Singles Classic was typically the first Saturday of the New Year. Things have flip-flopped, meaning singles roll tomorrow at Parkway, and the team event will be there Jan. 4 (having been rebranded as the “New Year’s Team Challenge”, for obvious reasons). Taglines is looking forward to both, preferably with minimal precipitation interference.
See you ’round the lanes…
2013 TOM IRWIN MEMORIAL CRUSADER CLASSIC RESULTS
(Dec. 7 at Bowler City, Hackensack)
Boys Team Results:
1. Montville, 1,076-1,036-1,046—3,158
2. Lyndhurst, 935-1,037-1,072—3,044
3. Paramus Catholic 3,023
4. Northern Highlands 2,746
5. Pompton Lakes 2,691
6. Jefferson Twp. 2,632
7. Bergen Catholic 2,610
8. Fair Lawn 2,600
9. Mahwah 2,480
10. St Peter’s Prep 2,442
11. Teaneck 2,266
12. Leonia 2,193
13. Hackensack 2,175
14. Garfield 2,122
15. DePaul 1,998
Girls Team Results:
1. Paramus Catholic, 911-855-853—2,619
2. Holy Angels 2,359
3. Teaneck 2,240
4. IHA 2,172
5. Hackensack 2,093
6. Northern Highlands 2,016
7. Mahwah 2,002
Top Boys Individuals:
1. Ryan Donohue, Lyndhurst, 706
2. Brian Rizzi, Paramus Catholic, 704
Top Girls Individuals:
1. Ameera Khan, Paramus Catholic, 637
2. Nikki Vucak, Paramus Catholic, 590
3. Dana-Marie Laloo, Teaneck, 580