This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Sports

Bed-Stuy Resident Captures PSAL Bowling Title

Gary Pacheco bowls eight consecutive strikes in final game to help secure championship

Gary Pacheco, 16, of Bedford-Stuyvesant bowled an outstanding 714 in three games, outlasting a field of 48 other competitors in the PSAL boys' individual championships at Maples Lanes in Borough Park earlier in the month .

In his final game, Pacheco, a junior at South Shore High School in Canarsie, recorded a total of nine strikes, eight straight, for a 269 score, more than enough to separate himself from second place finisher, Ian Persits of Brooklyn Tech, who posted a 690.

His 269 tally tied him for game-high with Forest Hills' Dylan Bustillo.

Find out what's happening in Bed-Stuywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Pacheco placed sixth in the borough finals, which qualified him for the city title event. But he wasn't satisfied with his performance at the Brooklyn Championships, the junior said, and took a different attitude into the City's, helping him capture top prize.

"Honestly, most definitely, anytime I bowl, I always try and do my best," Pacheco confidently explained. "So, anything I bowl in, I bowl to win. In the pre-qualifying round, I was leading after the first two games, and shot 160 and that dropped me down to sixth place," he continued. "Coming into today, I had a different mindset. Someone told me to just bowl as if it was open bowling, and that really kept me in the game and helped keep me smooth and consistent."

Find out what's happening in Bed-Stuywith free, real-time updates from Patch.

While moved by Pacheco's victory, head coach Jennifer Aniello wasn't surprised at all. His bowling abilities, she noted, has been garnering praise from several of her fellow colleagues, including boys' bowling Commissioner Gary Kastin, since the season commenced.

"I did expect him to come in first place," Aniello said. "From day one that he came onto my team, all the coaches in the bowling alley saw him, the commissioner came over and saw him. From the beginning of the season, everybody told me that I had one of the top kids in the city. So, it was expected. I'm very emotional, I'm very overwhelmed, I'm extremely excited for him. But it's not anything that I doubted."

 

 

 

 

 

 



We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?