The Boy’s Bowling ended the season on a  surge, entering the playoffs riding an eight-game win streak and winning 10 out of their last 11 matches. The boys had the third most wins in their division, with key wins over Holy Cross, Bordentown, and Delran. The team was led this year by seniors Dillon Siddiqi and Ronnie Runquist, who both had total scores over 9,000 this year, with Siddiqi coming only about 300 pins from a 10,000-pin season, and Runquist just under 600 pins from the same feat. When asked on the top two seniors’ recent performance, Coach Anthony Faultz had this to say:

“I think they’ve bowled excellent this year. Both Ronnie and Dillon have been consistent all year and they helped lead this team to where we are now. We still have a lot left to do, but I think as long as they can keep their game up, and the rest of the team continues to do their part, I believe that we can contend for a State Championship.”

Siddiqi and Runquist have truly led the team this year, as they’re both averaging a score over 185, with Siddiqi averaging about 190 per game and Runquist averaging about 186 per game. But the team couldn’t have gotten it done without the depth behind Runquist and Siddiqi. With senior Vincent DeLuca and underclassmen Dane Hess, Vincent Gallo, and Ben Gigliotti, the team has had a good source of depth to fall back on in case the top two seniors weren’t able to bowl. Coach Faultz believes that the depth is another reason for their recent success.

“The reserves have definitely stepped up this year. They were a nice liability to have in case someone like Siddiqi or Runquist weren’t able to bowl. They came up big when we needed them most. It’s nice to be able to think that if something bad happened, we’d still have the depth to make up for any lost bowlers. For the underclassmen, seeing them bowl like this now not only makes me look forward to playoffs, but for seasons to come.”

Unfortunately, unlike the last two seasons, the boys were not able to defend their South Jersey Group 1 crown when they placed seventh at sectionals on Saturday, February 3.  The boys had a team total of 2,391 pins and would have needed to eclipse Collingswood’s 2,750 pin total to place in the top two with Bishop Eustace.

Unlike the past, the girls’ bowling team turned around their direction from last year when they had only one triumph and ended the season with five victories this season, reversing the recent trend that saw the team win one match or less in four of the last six seasons.  The girls had wins over Delran (twice), Northern Burlington, Pennsauken and Holy Cross.

While the swimming team was able to match the boy’s bowling team with a playoff caliber season, the team defeated Jackson Memorial in the first round of the playoffs before losing to Manasquan in the second round of the South Jersey Group 2 playoffs.  The team’s end-of-season success can be attributed from the emergence of underclassmen Robert Sandeen, and Brendan McDevitt, alongside the consistency of seniors Kevin Conville, Alyssa Cherubino, Matt O’Brien, and two school records set by Sophomore Jack Lilley and Senior Natalie Smith.

Though they did finish 4 games over .500, Coach Jon Schroeder hoped that the team would go farther than they did.

“I’m glad we finished with a winning record, but I think that we could’ve done better. There were times where we didn’t capitalize on some great opportunities. Our opponents did. I’m looking forward to next year, but it’s a little disappointing not seeing our team in the state playoffs.”

Despite the team losing multiple seniors, they will look to improve next year and hopefully make a push for the playoffs with the upcoming young talent on their roster.