Clarkstown Bowling Defeats Nanuet in Fight for First Place in League

The Clarkstown girls and boys varsity bowling teams swept Nanuet in their second to last meet of the regular season.

The win is par for the course for Clarkstown, which has had an impressive season so far. 

“The season was really, really competitive for the boys and girls who are at this point both first and second place,” said Clarkstown’s head coach Jeff Gartner.  “The boys held first place for the majority of the season, it’s still not out of reach...  The boys bowled very well, the girls gave North Rockland their biggest competition all year, so that’s a very big compliment to give them.” 

He added, “Nanuet lost one of their stronger bowlers last year, so that kind of depleted the program, but you can’t take anyone too lightly, so we had to bowl well especially if we’re looking for some help from TZ, but we didn’t get it.”

The loss for Nanuet was another tough one for the team and the boys especially, who have had a rocky season in this rebuilding year.

“The season’s been a little rough, we’re rebuilding for the boys team at least,” said Nanuet’s head coach Robert Deleon.  “We lost one of the top bowlers in the state last year.  We’ve got a bunch of young guys.  We’ve got a promising girls team, they’re a young bunch of tenth graders, five tenth graders and an eighth grader.  They seem to be talented and we’ve got Brianne Healy, who has the top average in the county, so the girls team looks to be promising for the couple coming years and the boys will be developing.”

The girls kept it close in the first two games, defeating Nanuet 723-714 in the first and 742-718 in the second.  Clarkstown dominated the third game, winning 824-654.  Leading the way for Clarkstown was Lisa Lang with a total of 495 points for the night.  Though she was on the losing team, Nanuet’s Brianne Healy was far and away the high scorer of the night, with a total of 581 points.

The Clarkstown boys defeated Nanuet with three, definitive victories of 974-722, 927-707 and 941-772.  Ryan Ventillo led his team to victory as the high scorer of the night, with a total of 624.  Tyler Lucas was the high scorer for Nanuet, bowling for a total of 516.

“We had good confidence going into today,” said Ventillo.  “Our team has a lot more strength than the other team, but it wasn’t really a team day it was more of an individual day I feel like, because everyone was trying to bump up their averages for sectionals.  But don’t get me wrong, still the main aspect here is trying to win as a team.”

The Clarkstown girls improve to 115-25 and the boys improve to 117-23.  The Nanuet girls fall to 62-78 and the boys to 21-119 as a very tough season for the boys continues as they have yet to win a meet.

Next week, it’s on to sectionals, which start on Monday.

Nanuet is sending it’s girls to compete, however, the odds are stacked against the team, though expectations are on Healy to perform quite well.

“We have no boys qualifying for sectionals, but I have high hopes for Brianne to do very well at those meets,” said Deleon.  “The girls will qualify, but as a team we just made it for qualification as a team but when you get there, if she has a good day, she could qualify for states.”

Coming off an impressive season, both Clarkstown teams are feeling good going into sectionals, though the competition will be tough with North Rockland and a host of other top teams to beat.

“We’re looking to be competitive in the team event,” said Gartner.  “North Rockland was defending state champion, so we beat them before this year, so we’re hoping to be right up there with them and our girls, we’re hoping for them to put up good numbers and be competitive.”

Ventillo would not make any predictions as to outcomes, his focus is all on staying strong mentally going into the meets.

“I don’t really try to expect anything, I always try to come in with an open mind,” said Ventillo.  “When you get there, you just gotta bowl your game.  The only way you can really prepare is mentally, you’ve just got to come in their mentally strong, bowl your game and see yourself at the top.”