Archbishop McCarthy’s Albury, Western’s Monahan are Broward Bowlers of the Year

Archbishop McCarthy bowler Anderson Albury, a senior, made quite an impression in his first — and final — appearance at state, cracking the top-16 in the qualifying session to move on to the tournament’s final bracket. Western’s Kellie Monahan, a sophomore, made significant strides both at the lane and as a leader in her second season, just missing the top-16 cut but showing the potential to get there.

As such, Albury and Monahan are the Miami Herald’s Broward Bowlers of the Year.

Albury, in his first full season of bowling, rebounded from what he called a “mediocre” regular season to claim the final individual spot for state from District 15, the only district for all Broward County teams.

But at state, he surpassed the entire county field. His four-game qualifying session score of 881 was the 15th-best in the state and allowed him to advance to the individual final bracket. Albury’s time in the double-elimination bracket was short lived as he dropped each of his first two matches, but just getting there was a feat in itself.

“Going into districts at least, I wasn’t confident,” Albury said. “Somehow got through by a scrape. Getting to [state], I was like ‘This is crazy.’ I never thought I would be here. ... It was something that I’m never going to forget.”

Monahan, meanwhile, has been to state twice already in her first two years at Western. She advanced as an individual as a freshman and finished 95th in the qualifying round that year.

One year later, she was the underclassman leader of a senior-filled team that won the District 15 title to qualify for state.

And once there, she put up by far the best performance from the county. Monahan finished 18th in the qualifying session, eight pins shy of a top-16 spot that would have advanced her to the final bracket.

Monahan, who has been bowling for seven years and already considers herself to be a “senior in bowling,” said the season as a whole as well as her individual improvement made the 2023 season “a great experience overall.”

“My team is full of softball girls so I was the only professional bowler there,” Monahan said. “To see all of us beat out some of the best teams in Broward, win the district and get to state was a really great experience for all of us.”