Edison girls take fourth at weekend bowling tourney
BY SHAWN LAYTON Staff Writer
The Edison High School girls bowling team took fourth place in the 32-team field at the Joe RomerMemorial Tournament over the weekend at Brunswick Zone.

In the semifinals, theEagles lost to eventual runner-upCarteret and failed to squeak byWoodbridge in the consolationmatchwith Woodbridge. Edison's best game of 257 during the tournament was high enough to award the Eagles with the tournament's high-game award.

"Iwas happywith our performance,"Edison head coach Tracie Smith said. "Itwas the end of a nice week for us."

Earlier in the week, the Eagles pulled off an impressive win over division rival South Brunswick.Edison outdistanced theVikings by 103 pins. The win was further proof that the Eagles returned fromwinter break a different team. In the beginning of the month, Edison avenged an earlier season loss with a victory over East Brunswick.

"EastBrunswick beat us handedly in our first meeting," Smith said. "We took the last two in the secondmatch and bowled our single highest game of the season, a 1,011, to give East Brunswick their first loss."

Senior SamanthaMcDowell has been the team's workhorse during this stretch. Mc- Dowell enters this week with a 172 average with a high game of 244 and a high series of 598.

"Samantha really helps inspire the team and she's great to have on the lanes when you're trying to coach two teams at once," Smith said. "One time my boys and girls teams were 78 lanes apart and I saw how nice itwas to have Samantha be such a great leader. She's the team's rock and she knows how to keep everyone focused."

Juniors Meredith Matthews and CourtneyValeriani have also been on a tear of late. Matthews has improved her average by 18 pins fromlast seasonwhileValeriani has improved by five pins.

"Meredith is one of ourmost vocal leaders and she's an excellent lead-off bowler," Smith said. "Courtney has got a wicked ball gets so close to the gutter before all of the spin she puts on the ball runs 30 boards back and goes to the head pin. It's quite a sight."

Sophomore Cathryn "Cat" Rotolo is currently the team leader with a 194.5 average and is fresh off a third place finish at the Greater Middlesex Conference individual tournament.

"She's the backbone of the team right now," Smith said. "Cat thrives on competition and she's always supportive of her teammates. She's probably among the top three bowlers in the county with her average."

Sophomores Jessica Shaw and Cassandra Ottens have also picked up their respective games of late. Shaw's 170 average is 20 pins better than last season'smarkwhileOttens' average is up 30 pins.

"Jessica is another great leadoff bowler for us," Smith said. "She's quiet but really competitive. Cassandra on the other hand is our biggest cheerleader. She's an extremely talented athlete."

Also bowling well is freshman Brittany Bobik and sophomore Kathryn Hand. Bobik's 165 average is fifth best on the team.

"Brittany is upbeat and brings a lot of energy to the team," Smith said. "She's the sole newcomer on the team and she's fit in so well."

The 10-3 Eagles will look to remain in second place in the Red Division when they return to Brunswick Zone in North Brunswick to take on the Piscataway Chiefs Jan. 23.