Krop’s Amy McMillan, Columbus’ Adam Scholer are Dade Bowling Coaches of the Year

For a third consecutive season, Amy McMillan’s girls’ bowling team at Dr. Krop took a step forward at state. Adam Scholer’s boys’ team at Columbus did the same this year.

As such, McMillan and Scholer are the Miami Herald’s Miami-Dade Bowling Coaches of the Year.

McMillan’s Krop team had the top finish out of all Dade teams — boys or girls — at state this season when they finished tied for 19th in qualifying with a four-game team score of 2,868. That was just 34 pins shy of getting into the top 16, which would have advanced Krop into the final bracket.

The Lightning’s one-two punch of Thalia Nelson and Joselyn Reyes-Clark led the way during qualifying, with Nelson finishing 13th individually and Reyes-Clark 53rd. Jodie-Leaa Hercule, Sagine Atis, Elizabeth Timmons, Gaya Turgemen and Sophia Platonov rounded out Krop’s team this season.

The 19th-place team finish was the latest bit of improvement for McMillan’s squad. Two years ago, Krop finished 31st out of 34 total teams at the 2021 state championship. They improved to 27th in 2022 before breaking into the top-20 this season — a first for a Miami-Dade girls team since TERRA’s 16th-place showing in 2021.

As for Scholer’s Columbus team, the Explorers were 21st during the qualifying session at state, finishing three places ahead of the next closest Dade team in Ferguson. That was a six-place improvement from last season when Columbus finished 27th at state.

Columbus had three bowlers finish among the top 100 during the qualifying round, with Orlando Hoyos placing 68th, Sergio Alonso 71st and Adrian Bengochea 99th. Carlo Toca and Aidan Acevedo filled out the rest of the Explorers’ team.