New Year’s Eve Battle of the Schools brings together 114 keglers of all ages

By Frank Wilkinson, Special to the Advance
silive.com | Click here for the full story

The Annual New Year’s Eve Battle of the Schools, held at Rab’s Country Lanes, showcased the best in bowling as competitors came out to represent their current high schools and alma maters.

It was the 7th edition of the alumni event and the 21st rolling of the high school tourney.

This year’s Battle of the Schools brought together 114 bowlers, representing 23 schools across the boroughs, where the eldest competitors in the Alumni division were 87 years of age (Ed Wilkinson, Port Richmond HS, and Greta Andrade, Curtis HS) and the youngest, Joseph Guarnieri, 18.

St. Joseph by the Sea High School Team No. 1 emerged victorious as Andrei Kovmir, Nicholas Nunez, Peter Flynn and Justin Arenas delivered a 10-game total of 2,154 pins, highlighted by a high game of 268. Their consistent performance secured them the title, edging out the 2023 champions, Arlington High School by six pins.

Port Richmond placed third with 2,025 pins in the Baker Format.

Meanwhile, Tottenville HS Team No. 1 won its second Alumni division crown. Lonnie Levy, Chris Riordan, Vinny D’Ambrosio, III, Joe Lampariello and Michael Endress comprised the squad. Tottenville finished second in qualifying with 2,300 pins, but defeated McKee/S.I. Tech Team No. 1 in a two-game finale by a score of 431-379.

The Alumni division is not just about competition, it’s about giving back. Bowlers not only compete for bragging rights, but their winnings are donated back to their alma maters’ bowling programs. Tottenville earned $1,250 for the win.

Runner-ups McKee/S.I. Tech Team No. 1, consisting of Nick Handog, Jimmy Clinton, Jason Katz, Mike McNichol and Jeff Scire, won $500.

Curtis ($300) and Monsignor Farrell ($300) finished third and fourth, respectively.

NOTES: In the Alumni division, Curtis Team No. 3, included three generations of bowlers — Nazareth Laursen, her daughters Lizabeth Philpott and Nazareth Labetti along with Nazareth’s (Laursen) mother, Greta … Click here to learn more about the event and for the full results.