The women’s bowling team sent three players to compete in the United States Bowling Congress (USBC) individual sectionals on March 8. They competed strongly against 220 other bowlers across the country. Coach Martin Resner said he saw it as an emotional and great way to end the season for the players.
“It was great to have three athletes wanting to test their abilities against all the top collegiate bowlers in the nation,” Resner said. “It was emotional for all as it was the last time for Rose Klinger to compete and the sectionals took place in her hometown. Also, it was the final time for Samantha Novak and Sarah Stevanovic, two best friends, to compete together in college. I was proud of their efforts.”
Prior to the sectionals tournament, the team placed sixth in the CCIW conference on March 2. While the season was full of ups and downs, the team saw this season as a good one overall.
“Our season this year was probably one of the best seasons we’ve had over the past six years,” senior Delaney Walsh said. “This team has broken a lot of records and we started off strong just better in the beginning of the year.”
Although the team finished in sixth, the team did see some improvements from previous seasons, one improvement being focusing on themselves and their goals.
“I think we had a lot of focus,” Novak said. “Each year we try to set goals and kind of have a focus on what we want. This year we set really specific numbers. And we tried to really focus ourselves on what we wanted and like had that goal so I think mentally we did a lot more than we wanted to last year.”
Another improvement was in the chemistry and confidence between the players.
“We increased team camaraderie and that helped with motivation and confidence to be able to perform well during tournaments,” Walsh said. ”Our chemistry was better, we would always find time to hang out and be together as a team.”
Now heading into the off-season the team is looking to improve on their own game, and develop into a better player.
“We pretty much go for the full year but have our off season in the summer,” sophomore Samantha Olson said. “When I go back home I just practice at the bowling alleys nearby. I want to improve on picking up spares.”
Also with the start of the new season, the coach hopes to bring the team closer with the older players alongside the new First-Years coming in.
“For the offseason, the focus will be to come together as a team, set new goals together, start off-season workouts to physically start preparing for next year and develop focus areas for them to work on when they go bowling on their own over the summer,” Resner said.