By Mitch Silver

The Rye Neck Boys’ and Girls’ bowling teams traveled to their home lanes at Bowlerland in the Eastchester section of the Bronx for an important meeting with the keglers from Valhalla High. The Panther girls are the defending league champs and currently sitting in second place under first-year Coach John Suman, a longtime Physical Education teacher in the White Plains school district. His Rye Neck boys are in third.

Rye Neck has a strong history in the sport of bowling. Athletic Director Joe Ceglia puts it this way: “Section 1 is a very strong bowling section throughout the State of New York. And we are more than competitive in Section 1.”

In addition to the Panther girls rolling their way into last year’s Section 1 tournament, Tom Collins of the Class of 2016 qualified for Sectionals in both his junior and senior years. Junior Joe Yang leads both Rye Neck teams, though he has some work to do in order to qualify for the Sectional tourney.

These results are especially good considering Rye Neck is one of the smallest schools competing in the Section. The largest schools in up-county Westchester and Rockland, where large, modern bowling facilities are located within five to minutes of the schools, typically dominate the postseason tournaments.

Right now, Margaret Kohler, Giulianna Miceli, Yolisima Zaria Vergel, Nina Sullivan, Olivia Allison, Sirsha O’Day, and Jamie Straza provide strong internal competition for the five places on the varsity squad. Yang, Gabe Motolinia, Noah Thurer, Vincenzo Griffo, Edward Lopez, Ryan Busby, James McSweeney, and Zach DiPalermo are equally competitive on the boys’ side.

 Coach John Suman, right, joins his Rye Neck keglers just before they would meet and defeat Valhalla. From left to right in the back row are Gabe Motolinia, Noah Thurer, Vincenzo Griffo, Edward Lopez, Ryan Busby, James McSweeney, Margaret Kohler, and Coach Suman. In the middle row are Giulianna Miceli, Joseph Yang, Yolisima Zaria Vergel, Nina Sullivan, Olivia Allison, Griffin Anderson, and Sirsha O’Day. In front are Jamie Straza and Zach DiPalermo.