BOWLING

The Huntington bowling program wrapped up the regular season over the weekend at the Backhaul Direct Hoosier Classic. The tournament is one of the largest and oldest tournaments of the year and featured 78 men’s and 65 women’s teams competing for one of collegiate bowling’s most prestigious titles.

The two-day event included six traditional team games on Saturday and 15 baker games on Sunday with completely different lane oil patterns each day.

The HU women finished the tournament with a score of 7,845 to claim 34th place out of 65 teams. Freshman Kayli Iorio led the team for the weekend with a six-game total of 1,151 pins (191.6/game average).

“Both days the ladies struggled to find any good breaks and gain any momentum,” said Coach Shockey. “The lack of momentum led to long periods where we lacked team energy. Both days, however, the ladies rallied to finish each day strong and pull the best possible finish out of the weekend.”

On the men’s side, the Foresters recorded a team score of 7,985 for the 55th spot out of 78 teams. Sophomore Dylan Herring paced Shockey’s crew with a s-game total of 1,099 (183/game average).

“The guys fought hard both days but struggled finding a line-up that would consistently score,” noted Shockey. “Each game someone different would step up and have a good game and each game someone different would struggle.”

It wasn’t the results Huntington was hoping for but there was a much bigger purpose to the weekend. While the Hoosier Classic is unique for a variety of reasons, the most significant is their partnership with the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Make-A-Wish Foundation exists to grant wishes to critically ill children and through the Hoosier Classic, they were able to grant the wish of seven-year-old Eva who loves the Disney character Ariel.

Not surprisingly, Eva’s wish was to take a Disney cruise. HU was quick to help make Eva’s wish come true by putting together a gift basket that any 7-year old going on a Disney cruise would need to have. She was also tasked with rolling out the ceremonial first ball and the Foresters made sure she looked the part by presenting her with a signed HU jersey.

“I’m not sure who had a better time, the team or Eva,” said Shockey. “I would like to give a special thanks to Haley Tucker and Austin Schultz for organizing and leading the way in making this a special event. I also would like to thank Shannon and Dominic Iorio for their generous donation of candy to the basket.”

Huntington is back in action on Saturday in Fort Wayne to compete in the WHAC Championships to be held at Thunder Bowl.