BOWLING

The Huntington University bowling program kicked off their season last weekend in Milwaukee (Wis.) at the Midwest Collegiate Championships. It wasn’t exactly the start Shockey and crew were hoping for as the women finished in 14th out of 30 teams and the men finished 33rd out 41 teams.

The tournament format was six regular team games on Saturday and 16 Baker games on Sunday. The tournament for both the men and women featured a highly competitive field with many perennial top 10 teams in the mix.

After showing signs of a contending team early on Saturday, the Forester women, bowling at AMF West Lanes, struggled on Sunday to post a final overall score of 7944. Junior Amber Elliott managed to finish the team games in 21st place individually with a 1126 score (187.6/game average).

“We learned a few things this weekend about the women,” said Coach Mike Shockey. “We learned that we can be competitive despite not bowling well.

“We felt the struggle all day Saturday and still found ourselves as high as 7th place after five games. We also learned that spare shooting and team bowling is the formula for sustained success.”

Bowling at Bowlero Lanes, the HU men scored a total of 8280 for the tournament. Austin Schultz led Huntington with a solid individual finish of 43rd with a score of 1226 for six games (204.3/game average).

“We are coming into the season with some pretty high expectations for the guys and this weekend we just couldn’t fill the frames to the level we are capable of,” said Shockey. “I am proud that guys came together discussed the problems with shot making and spare shooting and are working together to move forward and not repeat mistakes again next weekend in Mount Vernon.

The Foresters compete in the first ever Crossroads League tournament this coming weekend at Colonial City Lanes in Mount Vernon, Ohio.