This was a time of real achievement and real improvement.

As Mark Noe saw it, that made the 2022-2023 season a successful and significant one for both the Cathedral High School girls bowling team and the boys team.

“We had a good season,” Noe, the Irish girls and boys bowling coach, said.

The Irish boys, who have improved steadily in recent seasons, had another strong season in 2022-2023. They ranked among the top three teams in their sectional throughout the regular season before finishing fourth in the postseason sectional.

“We did well,” Noe said. “We were loaded and we had a lot of fun. We had some high scores and some good individual results. We've gotten better. The kids were good kids and we had fun.”

The 2022-2023 Irish boys were a senior-heavy team led by seniors Isaac Alerding, Antonio Arroyo, Alec Irwin, Hunter Browning and Charlie Valentine – and sophomore Alex Jones. Jones was the Irish boys’ No. 1 bowler, averaging a little over 200 for the season.

Arroyo made the regional tournament, and Jones was among the top six bowlers for all-conference honors.

“We’re close,” Noe said. “We had a lot of highlight moments. We made Top four with the sectional and weren’t happy with that, but it was a good year. The boys accomplished a lot.”

The boys program also continued to grow in numbers and solidify itself for the future, with 20 bowlers in the program. The program also fielded a junior varsity team for the first time.

“We’re going to be rebuilding next year,” Noe said. “These guys are always a lot of fun and I'm going to miss them. We've got kids waiting to play and ready to go. We got some good underclassmen, and we’re in good shape for the future.”

The Irish girls also showed improvement in 2022-2023, finishing fifth in the conference after multiple consecutive sixth-place finishes in the six-team league.

“Their averages improved a lot, too,” Noe said of the girls program. “So, they had a lot of fun. They're all sweet girls. We had good, good kids. It was good to see them have a lot of good camaraderie and also just to improve. The girls had a really good season, made some milestones.”

The girls were led by junior Rachel Rodecap, sophomore Anna Brennan, junior Jules Hollis, junior Monica DeSantos and sophomore Lucy Batt.

“The girls are a lot of fun, always positive,” Noe said. “They definitely made nice improvement for their year.”