Foresters open up league play in Michigan
HUNTINGTON, Ind. - The HU bowling program kicked off their conference season with a pair of tournaments in Michigan. The Crossroads League tournaments are all single day events with four team games in the morning and 16 Baker games in the afternoon. In addition to seven Crossroads League schools participating, Midway and Cumberlands were also part of the mix.
Tournament 1 saw the HU varsity men start off a little shaky with a total score of 7097 for a third place finish. Drayden Schanlaub led the Foresters by averaging 215 per game for a 9th place finish. The JV squad had an outstanding day winning their division by 167 pins with a score of 6519. Daniel Burzynski led the team with a 5th place finish overall with 217/ average.
"We're still happy with the team's results," said Coach Mike Shockey. "We continue to work on putting everything together so we can start showing our true potential."
The second tournament of the weekend proved to be the tougher of the two days. The varsity men finished 4th with a score of 7,185. Jordan Malott posted a four-game average of 234 to lead the team with an individual finish of 2nd place and his first all-tournament team nod.
The JV squad finished third with a score of 6020 behind Troy Bishop's 184 average. led the team with an average of 184.
Coach Shockey went on to say. "We still have a lot of good things happening with the men. I think right now it is just a matter putting the right pieces together to start seeing the finishes we know we are capable of."
The Forester women found themselves in the same boat as the men with a mixed bag of results. The varsity women finished second overall after leading the tournament going into the last four games. The women tallied 6465 to fall by 30 pins to a talented Spring Arbor team.
A pair of seniors made the all-tournament team which included Amber Elliott finished 2nd overall with an average of 197.5 while Haley Tucker finished the day in 5th place with an average of 187.3.
The JV women won their division by 131 pins with a strong team performance. Lilly Pryor topped the Foresters with a 160.3 per game average.
"The girls fought hard all day but ran out of gas at the end," said Shockey. "We lost our mental games which led to missed spares and ultimately losing the tournament. The second tournament for the ladies was more of the same from the mental side of the game."
The Huntington women finished third overall on day two with a score of 6627. Haley Tucker was the model of consistency for the weekend with another all-tournament honor and a 4th place finish with a 198/game average.
The JV women continued bowling well to win against on Saturday with a score of 6144, more than 500 pins better than the second-place team. Emma Large led the team with a 192.8/ game average and a top 10 finish.
"Right now, we just need to be stronger mentally and finish tournaments," said Shockey, "The results will be there once we get that part of our games where we need to be."
The Foresters are back in action on November 19-20 for the National Collegiate Team Match Games in Fairview, Illinois.
The Huntington University Foresters compete in 17 intercollegiate sports for men and women. In the past decade, Huntington has produced 125 NAIA All-America honors and 449 All-America Scholar Athlete honors. Huntington University is a comprehensive Christian college of the liberal arts offering graduate and undergraduate programs in more than 70 academic concentrations. U.S. News & World Reportranks Huntington among the best colleges in the Midwest.