One hundred bowlers arrived at Bowlero bowling alley on Friday to compete in New Jersey’s individual state championship. Each athlete hoped to take home a bowler’s most coveted prize in what was a long day of competition and battle. Representing Westfield, senior Perry Cuccaro competed in Friday’s tournament for the second year in a row and finished in sixth.
The tournament was divided into three rounds. In the first round, 100 bowlers from across the state bowled three games, and the top 18 moved on. Next was the round of 18, which featured a similar system but with fewer people, and only the top five bowlers from this round moved on. Finally the tournament ended with a stepladder. The bowler who finished the second round in fifth would battle fourth, the winner of that would battle third, the winner of that would battle second, and so on. At the end of the day only one person could raise the trophy.
Cuccaro began round one with a respectable pace. He picked up spare after spare and created a strong foundation for the rest of the series. “My strategy was to stay focused and maintain a positive attitude,” said Cuccaro. It was late in his first series that Cuccaro picked up some heat, finishing with six consecutive strikes and a 227. Cuccaro finished his second series with a 216 and his third with a 192 for a total of 635. He placed seventh and easily moved on to the round of 18.
Cuccaro began the round of 18 strongly with a strike. This was a recurring theme for Cuccaro in the opening game, as he finished with a score of 220. Cuccaro needed a top five finish and still had two more games to go. Despite a strong performance throughout the day, Cuccaro struggled in his second game, posting 164, his lowest score of the day. He needed a turnaround and quickly got one. Cuccaro finished his third and final game of the day with a 233. “Throughout the series I was adjusting and working to make the right ball choice,” said Cuccaro. Although his performance in his final game was spectacular, it wasn’t enough to keep him in the competition. Cuccaro fought hard but missed the top five cutoff by 16 points.
“He was consistent in the first round, he stayed clean, we’re really pleased with the consistency of his shot,” said head coach Ralph Corey. “He battled back [in the round of 18] to finish strong, his strongest score of the day, overall it was still a great accomplishment.”
Cuccaro has been a staple of Westfield bowling in his many years with the program. This year marked his second consecutive appearance in the individual state tournament and his second consecutive finish in the top 10. As co-captain of the team Cuccaro has helped lead Westfield to many of its victories as well as high finishes in state tournaments. Cuccaro is a two-time Union County individual champion, is a four-time Union County Tournament champion with Westfield, and helped Westfield fight to a sixth-place finish in this year’s Group 3 tournament.
“Hard worker, so respectful, so polite, true leader and probably out of the 12 years I’ve been coaching this program he’s the top bowler I’ve had,” said Corey. “So much success, personal success, team success, and couldn’t be happier for him and we were lucky to have him and certainly it is going to be a big hole next year.”
