The Moeller Bowling Team Are Rolling Over The Competition

The Crossgate Lanes team is heating up right now. The Moeller Bowlers believe that they have a good chance at sectionals and if they do well at sectionals then they believe they will have a shot at winning districts. 

Bowling balls lined up. Photo from shutterstock. https://www.shutterstock.com/video/clip-1020218371-bowling-balls-machine

The varsity bowling team has put forth a lot of effort in their matches and practices for the end goal of winning the state title. The JV team has also put forth a lot of time and effort in the hopes that they will make it on to varsity in the upcoming years.

Currently, the division 1 team, ranked 37 in the state, is 2 – 7. They haven’t done the best this year, but they are not done just yet. As said before, the players believe that they will place high in sectionals and if they do that then they can move on to districts with their heads held high. Their record shows that both of their wins were at their home alley of Crossgate Lanes, which is coincidentally where sectionals will be held. All the players stated that they have had a fun time playing this year.  

Ian Fletcher is a role model for the younger players, a senior who could have made varsity but gave up his spot for more playtime on JV and a bowler on the team for 3 years. His highest game is 225. When asked what his goal was for this year, Ian said that he had a personal goal which was to bowl a 300 in-game. Ian also explained that the bowling team was average this year, and that they could have done a lot better.  

Kyle Smith is a senior on the varsity bowling team. His highest game is a 268. He is a three-year bowler and practices often. When asked if they plan to do well in sectionals he said,“Yeah, we just got seated for sectionals we’re going to be playing at Crossgate Lanes, which is our home lanes, and we’re trying to be in the top finishers if not win it.” Looking onward to districts, Kyle said, “Hopefully if we can win sectionals then we’ll go into districts seated pretty high.” He said that he has a great time this year especially since he was a senior and got to play on varsity. 

Coach Andy Pokupec is one of the coaches for the JV Gold team. Poke explained that he could not speak for the Varsity or JV Blue teams, but he had a lot to say about the gold team. “Pretty much everyone on the gold team are new to the sport, they were all pulling their weight, I thought they all did a great job because they’re all willing to try different things and when you try different things you don’t score as well, so to me that’s an important quality.” When asked who he thought was leading the team he said John Cordier, Isaac Lohmueller, Converse Kennedy, and Anthony Neal were leading the team in scores. 

Coach Poke also spoke about their futures saying, “You never know, it depends on how much they work on it on their own. People talk about that 10,000-hour rule. Basically the more time you put in the more get out, and if they get some help and some coaching also they have room to grow since they’re only freshman. Their bodies have room to grow where they could get stronger and where they have more time to put into bowling.”

When Poke was asked what the best experience for them was, he said that the best experiences were when they would get new personal highs during games. Poke said, “I’m grateful that coach Beiersdorfer offered me the opportunity it was a really cool experience, really great to hang out with coach Lilly, He’s a very experienced bowler, and it was cool to work with the students and to have the opportunity to grow together.” 

Photo was taken at Moeller vs LaSalle match. Picture on moellerbowling Instagram page.

Kyle Withee is a senior on the JV team. He is a first-year bowler with his highest game being 170. When asked about what his personal goal was for the year Withee explained that he hoped to play a game where his score was 200. Withee said, “Even though we started off the year bad, we had a fun time at the games. We’re also starting to do better with our 2 wins on varsity.” 

Jake Nieporte is a senior on the varsity team. He is a four-year bowler with the highest game of 258. For personal goals Jake said that he wanted to get back at his old self since earlier in the year he tore his ACL. When asked about sectionals he said, “I believe that we have a pretty good chance at winning sectionals because we’ve heated up recently, we almost beat Elder who close to best in the state.” Jake said he had a pretty good time this year bowling with the boys. Jake was asked what he thought of the upcoming bowlers on the team. He said, “Zamir Thoman, Michael Lichtenberg, and Alec Fletcher look promising in the coming years.” 

Alec Fletcher is a sophomore on the JV bowling team. He has been playing for 2 years and his highest game is 205. Alec said that his personal goal for the year was to get a more consistent score for the year. When asked what he thought about the JV team this year, Alec said, “It has been pretty fun, the people are enjoyable to be around, and we all work hard in practices.” 

The team is starting their tournaments on February 17th. They cannot wait to see where they will place and if they will be able to go to the district tournament. They have a good feeling about this year and if they don’t win this year then there is always next year with a new group of strong bowlers.