Bridgemen Bowling Team Vastly Improved Since Christmas

Head coach Dennis Sayer has seen his boys and girls bowling teams improve with time, and four boys in particular have made drastic improvements in their games.

The 3-7 Bridgemen have gotten help from three freshmen and two sophomores, who have improved their stats since Christmas, and it is not going unnoticed.

“We hit a little bit of a down patch before Christmas, but their averages have really picked up since,” said head coach Dennis Sayer.

Sophomores James Han and Ammad Quraishi, along with freshmen Theodore Han, Kamil Fauzi and Phil Plucinski, have all improved their averages from 15-25 points each. The younger players also look to senior Kei Kase for leadership.

The team is looking to improve their record and get everything in order before the Feb. 11 state tournament at Bowler City in Hackensack.

The success continues this week as both bowling teams are coming off big league wins, defeating Ridgefield Park 7-0.

The players' averages have surely helped the current state of the team, and it says a lot of both the team and its coaching to have five players come off of a holiday and collectively get their averages up. If it continues, the possibilities for the team could be endless.

Sayer knows that all of his bowlers deserve success because they have all worked hard to improve. The most rewarding thing for themselves and for their  coach is that the results are starting to show.

Fort Lee High School Sports Recap

Boys Basketball

Scores from last week:

Englewood-70, Fort Lee-61

Fort Lee-74, Lakeland-40

Team Record: 9-5

This Week: Jan. 24 at Mahwah; Jan. 26 vs. Westwood

Girls Basketball

Scores from last week:

Dwight Morrow-52, Fort Lee-51

Lakeland-45, Fort Lee-25

Team Record: 6-8

This Week: Jan.23 at Lodi; Jan. 24 vs. Mahwah; Jan. 26 at Westwood

Wrestling

Scores from last week:

Demarest-47, Fort Lee-28

Team Record: 0-7

This Week: Jan. 25 vs. Eastside High School; Jan. 27 at Clifton; Jan. 28 vs. Ridgefield Park

Bowling

Scores from last week:

Wayne Hills-5, Fort Lee Girls-2

Wayne Hillls-5, Fort Lee Boys-2

Fort Lee Girls-7, Ridgefield Park-0

Fort Lee Boys-7, Ridgefield Park-0

Team Records: 3-7 and 3-7

This Week: Jan. 24 at Dumont

Track

The Fort Lee Boys and Girls track teams had many representatives place at the Ridgewood Winter Games II Meet at Rockland Community College, which took place on Jan. 17.

For the girls, junior Julie Lau placed fourth in the varsity 600-meter run. Her time was 1:39.1. Sophomore Larissa Anndeherz finished in second place in the novice 600 meters with a time of 1:44.6, while sophomore Ashley Jenq came in first in the novice 55-meter dash with a time of 7.8.

On the boys' side, junior Masaru Yamaguchi came in third in the varsity 55-meter dash with a time of 7.0, and senior Jonathan Spenst finished third in the novice 600 meters with a time of 1:25.2. 

This Week: Jan. 25 - Bergen Relays; Jan. 26 - FDU Field Meet; Jan. 27 vs. Ridgewood

Athlete of the Week

Ammad Quraishi, Boys Bowling

Quraishi, a sophomore, had a big week for the Bridgemen; his average for the week was an impressive 190. He also broke 200 on more than one occasion during the week, helping lead the Bridgemen over Ridgefield Park in a 7-0 league win.

Head bowling coach Sayer knows just how important Quraishi’s week was for the team.

"He was the mainstay and a big part of the reason for winning on Friday," Sayer said. "He played well and the rest of the team followed."