GCU Season Comes To An End. Story And Photo Courtesy Of GCU. Pictured Is GCU Head Coach Ben Canfield.
By David Carter/GCU Club Sports Web Marketing Intern
After a rough opening round in their inaugural appearance at the 2019 Intercollegiate Team Championships (ITC) National Tournament, the GCU Men’s Bowling team rebounded to finish tied for 9th place Friday in Dayton, Ohio. Along the way, the Lopes pulled off the stunner of the tournament, upsetting the top team in the field in Round 1 of match play. It was the second time in three weeks that the Lopes posted a top-10 finish in a national tournament, having finished 9th as well at the Collegiate Club Championships in Indianapolis, Indiana, earlier this month.
The Lopes qualified for nationals for the first time after posting a 4th-place finish at ITC Sectionals in Dallas, Texas last month. That put them among the top 16 teams in the nation – all of whom qualified from the four sectional tournaments across the nation – but the Lopes were one of only two teams actually making their nationals debut in Ohio.
“The competition was extremely tough,” said Lopes’ Head Coach Ben Canfield. “It was a true test of our growth as a program.”
The Lopes resembled the part of first-year participants during Thursday’s qualifying round, showing early jitters to finish the round last, and get saddled with the No. 16 seed in the double elimination match-play bracket – pitting them against the top seed. That didn’t stop the Lopes from pulling off their best result from the weekend, upsetting No. 1 seed Wichita State University in the first round.
“The guys tied the first game, then won the last three games in a row to win the game 4.5-3.5,” highlighted Canfield. “Wichita is the most decorated team in collegiate bowling. We were tied at 3.5-3.5 after seven games, and then the men shot a 256 in the roll-off to get the win.”
While it was a benchmark victory for the program, the Lopes couldn’t sustain the momentum against a very strong No. 9 seed from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, the champions of the 2019 Collegiate Club Championships. UWW played like champions, tagging GCU with the Round 2 loss, 4-1. After the loss, GCU received a 3rd-round bye, then saw their season end in Round 4 at the hands of No. 4 St. Ambrose University 4.5-1.5.
Although the Lopes may not have not ended up on top, Canfield remains optimistic about the difference the top-10 finish will have for the GCU Bowling program.
“We will take what we learned from this season and use that to build for next season,” emphasized Canfield. “We will start planning now, and work hard over the summer to continue making ourselves known as a collegiate bowling contender.”
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Summer League Ready To Crank Up At AMF Chandler Lanes.
Less than two weeks until the start of the Midweek Madness Summer "Get Your Gear League" at AMF Chandler lanes. This is a mixed sanctioned league with teams of 4 and will run for 12 weeks starting on Wednesday, May 15, 2019 at 6:30pm. Cost is $20 a night. Each participant will receive their choice of a High-Performance bowling ball. Your choices are the Brunswick Tenacity Grit, DV8 Pitbull Bark, Radical Conspiracy, Track Paradox V, Ebonite Choice or Hammer RIP'D Pearl. If you need additional information, or want to sign up, please contact Dan Kittrell at 480-334-6096 or on the Midweek Madness Facebook page. (Current members please share this notice on your Facebook page).
Midweek Madness Day of the week - Wednesday Time of the League - 6:30PM Start Date - 05-15-2019 End Date - 07-31-2019
Receive your choice of (1) of the high performance bowling balls. Additional balls can be purchased for an additional $8 per week.
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Bowl With The Pros At Golden Pin Lanes In Tucson.
There is still time to sign up for the PWBA Tucson Open "Bowl with the Pros" on June 6th 2019. You can register online at www.goldenpinbowl.comor in person at Golden Pin Lanes. Tickets are also available to watch the ladies bowl. Cost is $20 for both days of competition. These tickets are also available online or in person. If there are any questions, please give me a call at 520-888-4272. Thanks Hope to see you there!.
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Pony League News, Courtesy Of The Pony League - League Bowls On Monday Night At Brunswick Zone Glendale.
Pony League Sponsored by Revolutions Pro Shops, Fourth Quarter Week 9 of 9, 4/29/2019: Congratulations to Ramsey Auto Center and Chi-Town: The two winning teams in our semi-final matches. Ramsey Auto topped Strike & Awe, 8-0, in one match while Chi-Town bested the Raisins (4-4) by winning a one game tie-breaker. Ramsey Auto will match up against Chi-Town during the sweeper next week to decide the overall Pony League 2018-2019 Championship. Raisins and Strike & Awe will meet in the consolation match to decide third and fourth place for the season. Fourth quarter win, place and show was earned by Raisins, Virtue Bowling Supply and Ramsey Auto Center respectively. Looking at individual accomplishments this week, Kyle King led the way with a terrific 823 series on games of 278, 288 and 257. Gary Demeny (738), Shawn Kozak (729) and Josh Taylor (727) rounded out the series leader board. Josh Taylor and Shawn Kozak topped the high game board with a pair of 299 games, followed by Nick Pluhowsky's 289 and Kyle King's 288. Mandy Etem rolled the high series for the ladies with a 677 followed by Susan Galan's 666, Sonja Echeverria's 614 and Shirley Braverman's 601. Susan Galan's 267 topped the ladies' high game list followed by Mandy Etem's 257, Zelle Rubio's 217 and Melanie Olson's 213. Pony League bowlers averaged 194 per game for the evening with the season average remaining at 195 per game per bowler. Our individual handicap sweeper is scheduled for next Monday, paying 36 places, as well as our championship and consolation matches.
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Molly Weitzell wins 1st title at AMF Chandler Lanes! Story Courtesy Of SFT.
Our event this weekend was held at AMF Chandler Lanes. We had a total of 97 entries (58 qualifying & 39 economy parlay), creating 26 cashers, a 1 in 3.7 cash ratio and a pay out of over $4,100 in main and side event prize funds. The players bowled on a very difficult 52ft Badger oil pattern that maintained a moderate scoring pace. The long oil pattern produced some high scores the first set. The scoring pace slowed down the second set, and we saw it go back up for third qualifying squad.
We want to welcome Russell Neiger, Cody Lossing, Sue Lindgard, Mike Walsh, and Douglas Mehlhop to the SFT bowling club! We hope you all had a great time at your first event! We appreciate you joining us! Congrats to Tyler Andersen, Megan Carlson, Justin Penwell, and Josh Black on being this weekend's Parlay Power Players and advancing to the quarterfinals on only their $25 investment! Nice bowling! Also, congrats to David Jolly, Carl Spencer, Molly Weitzel, Stephen Bennett, and Ken W. Davis on making their first ever quarterfinals or their first quarterfinals in quite a while. Your winner of the free plastic ball drawing, with an option to upgrade to any Track high performance bowling ball for $85.00, was Ron Cross!!!
The quarterfinals were bowled on fresh conditions and the scores went back up. The bowlers seemed to score well on the fresh oil. The key to advancing was being able to convert makeable spares. Your leader from the A Division was Matthew Zweig (+71) and he would face Justin Penwell (+58). In the B Division, newcomer Molly Weitzel (+107) was your top finisher and would take on reigning SFT Player of the Year Josh Black (+105). The C Division would see red hot Preston Massey (+143) taking on Tyler Anderson (+121). The winners of each division would move on to the Final match. The A Division winner was Justin Penwell defeating Matthew Zweig, 265 to 224. The B Division winner was Molly Weitzel narrowly getting by Josh Black by one pin, 190 to 189, in a very exciting match. The C Division winner was decided in the tenth and final frame with Tyler Anderson needing to double in the tenth to get by Preston Massey. Tyler was able to strike on his first ball, but his second went a bit long giving Preston the win, 203 to 197.
The Final match was comprised of three bowlers in search for their very first SFT Title. The match started very close and would remain that way until the 10th frame. Going into the 10th, Molly had a small lead and was able to capitalize. Justin finished tapped on his first ball in the 10th allowing Molly Weitzel to win her first ever SFT AHT title! Congrats to Preston Massey for 2nd Place and Justin Penwell for 3rd place! We want to thank everyone that came out this weekend to support the event and hope to see you all next Sunday at AMF McRay.
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