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ALL-AREA BOYS BOWLING TEAM
BOWLER OF THE YEAR ERIC GAURONIAK
All-Area First Team
Jordan Abel
Daniel Carr
Jake Corcoran
Dakota Daniels
John Gallagher
Nate Garcia
Mathis Laird
Sean O’Reilly
Coach of the Year
T.J. BARAL
Martin County, second year This season: Martin County went 14-0 during the regular season, won the Kegel Tournament, won the District 12 tournament and advanced to the state tournament for the second year in a row. Quotable: “We went into this year with the same mentality we had last year. We wanted to build throughout the year, get better and better and be our best at districts and, hopefully, do well at state. The process was all the same and we pretty much had all the same guys. We all had the common goal of repeating (as state champions), but you have to take that one step at a time.”
First Team continued SEAN O’REILLY
Roman Pedatella
Jensen Beach junior Stats: Averaged 218.3 pins in the regular season, bowled a 300 game in the District 12 tournament, finishing fourth, and advanced to state an individual
James Steiert
ROMAN PEDATELLA
Martin County sophomore Stats: Averaged 210.6 pins in the regular season, helped Martin County win the District 12 tournament and advance to the FHSAA Finals
JORDAN ABEL
Lincoln Park senior Stats: Averaged 201 pins per game in the regular season; finished 11th at the District 12 tournament
JAMES STEIERT
Martin County Stats: Averaged 219.2 pins in the regular season, finished sixth at district, helping his team to a district title and sport in the FHSAA Finals
DANIEL CARR
Jensen Beach sophomore Stats: Averaged 211.8 pins in the regular season, was the District 12 tournament runner-up and advanced to the FHSAA Finals as an individual
DEBORAH SILVER/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS
Eric Gauroniak is the 2012 Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers’ All-Area Boys Bowler of the Year.
JAKE CORCORAN
Driven to succeed
Martin County freshman Stats: Averaged 205.1 pins in the regular season, helped Martin County win the District 12 tournament and advance to the FHSAA Finals
DAKOTA DANIELS
Martin County senior Stats: Averaged 227.3 pins in the regular season, bowled a 300 game, was the District 12 champion, helping Martin County to district team title and spot at state
JOHN GALLAGHER
Special to Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers
Martin County junior Stats: Averaged 214.1 pins in the regular season, helped Martin County win the District 12 tournament and advance to the FHSAA Finals
NATE GARCIA
Treasure Coast senior Stats: Averaged 211.4 pins during the regular season for Treasure Coast High School
MATHIS LAIRD
South Fork senior Stats: Averaged 210.6 pins in the regular season and bowled a 300 game in South Fork’s first match of the season
The Team
The 2012 All-Area Boys Bowling Team was compiled by correspondent Jon Santucci.
ANGELO BONADEO Martin County sophomore COLIN CORLEY Fort Pierce Central senior PHIL HALEY St. Lucie West Centennial sophomore
Martin County’s Eric Gauroniak pushes Tigers to the state tournament with hard work and determination By Jon Santucci
STUART — Martin County High School senior Eric Gauroniak was determined to be a better bowler this season. Despite being a first-team Allarea selection in 2011 on the team that won the state tournament, Gauroniak wasn’t satisfied with his game. Whether that meant extra time at Stuart Lanes or consistently seeking out Martin County boys coach T.J. Baral for advice, Gauroniak constantly looked for ways to improve. “I’m very motivated to get better,” Gauroniak said. “I want to succeed. I want to win as many tournaments as possible and I’m as motivated as you can think anyone is. “I want to win and I’ll listen to anything anyone has to say if that will help me out.” His 2012 results were impressive. Gauroniak averaged 235.2 pins per game in 21 regular season matches, finished seventh in the District 12 tournament and helped lead Martin County to an undefeated regular season and their second consecutive trip to the state tournament. Gauroniak is the Scripps Treasure Coast Newspapers All-Area Boys Bowler of the Year. “He worked so hard,” Baral said. “Even in the offseason, he’s constantly bowling and he asks a lot of questions. I would say 90 percent of the time that I would give him advice, it
Bowler of the Year
ERIC GAURONIAK
Martin County senior Notable: Gauroniak helped guide the Martin County’s boys team to its second state tournament appearance. He averaged 235.2 pins in 21 regular season games and was seventh overall in the District 12 tournament Coach T.J. Baral: “Eric is probably one of the hardest working kids I’ve had the pleasure of dealing with. I’ve been working with him for six years and this kid is in the bowling alley every day. That’s hard to find in bowling. Players tend to get comfortable and not take advice, but he realizes you have to be open to new ideas. He has open ears and an open mind.”
was him coming to me and asking, ‘how do you do this?’ or ‘how do I get better in this area?’ It’s very rare that I have to say, ‘Hey, you need to be working on this.’ “He’s not afraid to ask questions.” One of things that set Gauroniak apart from others this season was his consistency. Regardless of where Martin County was bowling, Baral knew he could count on Gauroniak to post a high score. His lowest game of the season was a 180 and that happened just one time.
HONORABLE MENTION
LOGAN HARTSEIL Fort Pierce Westwood junior
“By far, he was the most consistent bowler in the area,” Baral said. “It’s just crazy to average 236 for a bowling season in different houses with different shots. Even if you’re hitting the pocket every time, it’s literally ridiculous.” Even Gauroniak was pleased with the way he was able to post such a high average for the season. He prided himself on being consistent and taking care of the little details. “I’ve been trying to improve myself in bowling in multiple ways,” Gauroniak said. “Things like keeping my trail leg down and keeping my lines more consistent, that’s pretty much it. I would work on it every time I practiced — even if the high school team wasn’t scheduled to practice. “I don’t know my highest game, but averaging (235.2) I think is fairly good. You don’t know if the bowling centers will oil or not, or if your bowling on leftover oil from league bowlers the night before. It’s all unknown.” Baral said Gauroniak also worked hard to improve his mental approach, which helped push Martin County to state. “I think we bowled good as a team until state,” Gauroniak said. “The way I see it, it was just another day of bowling and at state it wasn’t our day. We couldn’t carry pins and everyone around us was carrying pins and getting motivated. “Throughout the regular season, though, we bowled really good.”
ANDREW MATTHEWS Lincoln Park senior KENNETH MERRICK Lincoln Park eighth-grader CHRIS REID St. Lucie West Centennial senior TREVOR SANCHEZ Port St. Lucie junior
All-Area Teams Find previous All-Area teams on TCPALM.COM
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