Farmingdale's Harris takes Nassau crown

Through the noise of a bowling alley crammed with 48 competitors and hundreds of spectators, Steve Harris managed to hear his dad. Come to think of it, that might not have been too difficult considering Chris Harris had been feverishly checking all the scores and doing calculator-quick math throughout and, after his son's second-to-last roll, his arms were raised, fists clenched and anybody within earshot heard: "That's all he needed. My boy won!"

His boy won. The Farmingdale senior toppled 1,417 pins - just 10 more than Roslyn's Samuel Kaplan - to earn the Nassau individual championship Saturday at Garden City Lanes. Matt Farber (Plainview JFK) took third with a 1,391 series. The tournament's top six finishers will comprise the Section VIII all-star team - coached by Clarke's Bryan Landini - that will compete in the sectional tournament March 6 in Syracuse.

"I heard [my dad] going crazy, so I had an idea," Steve Harris said. "Then after my last ball, I turned around and saw his reaction, so I knew. It made me so happy."

Harris, whose 212 average was seventh in the county, has qualified for the tournament the past three years, but his previous best finish was 13th in 2010. So his goal this time was to "bowl my heart out."

Last week, Harris led the upstart Dalers to second place in the team championship, finishing just 19 pins behind Sewanhaka District.

"So I wanted to come back this week, represent Farmingdale, and just win," he said.

Harris shot a 267 in Game 1, which left him behind Kaplan and Jeff Juarez's 268s, then he moved into first place with a 247 in the third game and held on,

SEE PHOTOSNassau team bowling championships

Kaplan charged back with a 244 in the last game to make it close. Ten pins from a championship has got to be disappointing, right?

"I don't feel any frustration at all," said Kaplan, who was a first-time entrant. The requirement is a 200 regular-season average. "All I expected was to finish in the top 50 percent."

That wasn't one of those empty, it's-an-honor-to-be-nominated phrases; the fact that Kaplan, several minutes earlier, jumped excitedly when his name was announced as the runner-up, certified his sincerity.

Farber, whose 218.6 average was tops in Nassau, will make his third trip upstate. He'll be joined by Juarez, an East Meadow freshman, who had a 1,350 series, and Wantagh teammates Nick Spinelli (1,324) and Ryan Fiorillo (1,320).