BOWLING

The Huntington University bowling team concluded the regular season with the Backhaul Direct Hoosier Classic, the biggest, oldest and most prestigious regular season tournament of the year. The tournament format included six regular team games on Saturday and 15 baker games on Sunday before cutting to the top eight teams for a bracketed match play round.

“This tournament is proof positive that bowling at the collegiate level is alive and well,” said Coach Mike Shockey. “The tournament is filled to capacity with 78 men’s teams and 66 women’s teams and a waiting list each year of schools wanting to bowl.”

The Forester women put together a solid performance with a 16th-place finish out of 66 teams. Brianna Cearbaugh led the Foresters individually with a six-game average of 195.5 and a 40th place finish in singles action. Abby Atkins also had a solid weekend with a six-game average of 189 and a top 60 finish in singles.

HU had a good day on Saturday with a team total of 5,505 pins for a 917.5/game average to sit in 14th heading into baker play. Sunday the shot proved a little tougher for the Foresters as they finished with a 15-baker total of 2,675 (178.3/game average) to slip into 16th place.

“We’ve had a couple of tournaments where we finished better this season, but this tournament was the best team performance of the year,” said Shockey. “The lane play was solid and the communication between players was good, but it was the leadership of our juniors that made the biggest difference this weekend.”

On the men’s side, Huntington finished 41st out of 78 teams. Jordan Herring led the team with a six-game score of 1,188 for a 198/game average. Coach Shockey likes the progress of the Springfield (Ohio) native. “Jordan has steadily been getting better all year long and has become one of the most consistent players on the team.”

On Saturday, the Foresters shot a 5,753 (958.8/game average) to land in the 37th spot. Sunday didn’t prove to be any easier as HU shot a 15-game baker total of 2,607 (173.8/game average) which dropped them four spots by the day’s end.

“The results weren’t what we expected this weekend but the guys stuck together and continued to work hard until the last game,” said Shockey. “Between the lack of strikes and several splits, we just couldn’t get any momentum going this weekend. The guys will bounce back and be ready for post-season play in three weeks. Hopefully we find the breaks we missed in Indianapolis.”

Next up for Shockey and crew is the USBC Intercollegiate Sectionals March 8-10 in Smyrna, Tenn.