The Highland boys’ and girls’ bowling teams are two squads on different trajectories.

The boys’ team is looking to improve on its 11-3 record and will have fewer meets with which to do so.

The Huskies have only lost one bowler from last year – Chris Wood – but return all five starters from last year: Lenny Casabura, Ryan Coleman, Gavin Landry, Luke Munson, and Devin York.

“We would like to go undefeated this year,” second-year coach Peter Forman said. “We lost three tough matches last year that I believe we can this year. Our guys are winning and becoming more consistent.”

Forman described the upcoming girls’ season as a rebuilding year as the Huskies are looking to replace four senior bowlers from last year’s 9-5 team: Brooke Harris, Olivia Crimivaroli, Rebecca Brooker, and Toni DeMassio.
They’ll enter the season with a mix of returning bowlers – Olivia Casabura, Izzy Gaylor and Katie Capobianco – and two newcomers, Daphne Valenzuela, and Camryn Moschitta.

“Our two newcomers are new and still learning the basics of the game,” Forman said. “We will probably struggle at the beginning, but hopefully be more consistent as the season progresses.”

They won’t have much time to struggle as the season will only consist of nine matches over the course of about four weeks in an abbreviated season due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Huskies started practicing on Jan. 19 and their first match was scheduled for Monday against FDR.

The two matches against FDR will be the only time the Huskies bowl in the same bowling alley as their competition as both the Huskies and Presidents call Spins Bowl in Poughkeepsie home.

All other matches will be done in virtual fashion with each team bowling at their own lanes and the winners will be determined after the fact by tabulating the scores.