The West Milford High School Bowling teamhas been on fire, successfully finishing the regular season at 36-20 points in their division, 60-38 points overall, with a 10-4 record. The team won two tournaments, taking first place in the Storm New Year Classic Tournament, defeating both Wayne Hills and Fair Lawn, teams that finished ahead of them in their conference division. The team placed in counties and became the 2018 Passaic County Champions. Mikey Nicholas also won a third place award in an individual event.
The four varsity bowlers are Andrew Finke, Tyler Nicol, Mikey Nicholas, and RJ Utter. Led by senior captains Andrew Finke and Justin Gerity, and junior captain, Tyler Nicol, the team has been able to capitalize on the promise that they showed last year in the 2016-17 season. Now with an even more impressive 2017-18 season, the team has showed that it has a great balance of experienced veteran bowlers along with up-and-coming young, talented bowlers, including Nicholas and freshman, Amanda Finke.
Every great team needs a great coach, and the bowling team has just that with Head Coach John Callie, who has now become a two-time Coach of the Year, winning the prestigious award for the second time this year. A humble Coach Callie shared his thoughts on earning the honor, not just once, but multiple times, saying, “Winning the COTY is a great honor surpassed only by the sportsmanship and respect of my players. Without the talents of the bowlers, I could not be bestowed this honor.”
Callie commented on the success of the team, despite it being comprised of such young bowlers, “We came into the season with quite a bit of talent, and more talent than I had positions to fill. Tryouts, and practices narrowed the search down, however. Players were rotated from substitutes to J.V. to Varsity. Under the tutelage of their coach, and the bonding and teamwork of the players, the Highlanders were successful this season and seasons in the past.” He told us the strongest points he tries to emphasize toward the team members are to, “stay calm, concentrate, and be a team player.”
Coach Callie described the emotions going into counties as, “relaxed and poised to win.” He also informed us of the process of choosing the bowlers to compete at the county tournament, “Bowlers are chosen by their average; our top bowlers are the most consistent in keeping up their scores and working as a team. Our 5th bowler for tournament play is not chosen, but [rather] has worked hard to attain that position.” The 5th bowler for the county tournament was Amanda Finke. Finke won Third Best Girl’s series in the county and had the second highest girl’s game at 209. Finke said, “I was so thrilled when I heard my name get called for both awards. Here I was, a freshman girl proving my spot on the team, thanks to having support from my teammates like Justin Garrity and my brother, Andrew.”
Finke was ready for the event, stating, “Before counties I was nervous. but extremely excited. I love competition and was ready to be the 5th bowler at the tournament.”
That’s the kind of confidence this bowling team carries with them; the bowlers are always ready for the challenge ahead of them. Captain Nicol predicted the team’s success, “We have a really good team you can expect a lot of good things from us this year. We never get fazed we’re always ready for the situation ahead of us.”
The team backed Nicol’s comments with actions as it most recently won the North 1B State Sectional Tournament, Group 3 Schools. A lot of good things have already come from this team–a great record, a county title, and now a sectional title. What is ahead for the bowling team? The State Finals! Let’s give our support to our amazing bowling team this year, and hope they keep things rolling and bring that state title home to West Milford.