The Augustana women’s bowling team just concluded their third meet of the 2024-2025 season, finishing fourth among their CCIW counterparts. The CCIW tournament, held in familiar territory for the Vikings at Milan’s Backyard Bowl, wrapped up its first iteration of the year with Marian University taking home the top spot, maybe a sign of things to come for the upcoming season.
As for Augustana, they went 3-3 in their six matches, getting two individual top-ten finishes from sophomore Cassie Kontos and senior Maddie Lathrop, with average scores of 181.33 and 177.00, respectively. When asked to reflect on her and her team’s performance over the weekend, Kontos expressed how proud she was of her success and her team’s perseverance.
“I felt confident and focused on most of my shots this weekend, which boosted my belief in my consistency,” Kontos said. “As for the team, we did experience a few rough patches, especially when adjusting to challenging lane conditions, but we stuck together and worked through it. We were very supportive of each other and did well with our mental games, which helped us stay focused and positive. Overall, I’m very proud of how we handled the challenges and worked together.”
Everyone will have to wait to see if their hot early season starts come to fruition, as many teams, specifically the Vikings, will be taking an extended break to enjoy winter break and allow the players to rest before heading into the remainder of their schedule.
Compared to other sports, bowling has a long, grueling schedule that starts in October and potentially ends at the beginning of April, depending on who secures their spot in the NCAA finals. Lathrop prefers to look on the bright side of that extended break.
“I would say that those first few practices back are there to knock off the rust,” Lathrop said. “It’s not as bad as summer, though. In the summer, most people are busy and struggle to find time to get their reps in, but once you’re at school and back in the season, it’s a lot easier to get back into it. We’re excited to hopefully put a strong end to the first half and get our stat sheets back so everyone knows what to work on.”
When dealing with such a long season, the ability to stop and adjust early bodes well for the players and it certainly gives the coaches an easier time deciding how to attack their weaknesses.
Coach Marty Resner is an incredibly calculated mind who spends so much time studying his players and the conditions they play under, ensuring that the changes he presents to them will help push them towards that improved second half they are all looking for. He also works to make sure that his players understand why he has adjusted parts of their game so that, in the future, they can recognize faults and adapt to them in real-time.
“Throughout drills and skill work, we teach our athletes why and how they are doing the things that they are doing so that they can help themselves and others in the future,” Resner said. “As a coach, I will plan for where each bowler should start depending on the oil pattern used for tournaments as well as the release, ball speed and other mechanics of each bowler.”
Bowling, above all else, is a complex sport that takes time to understand the intricacies of fully appreciating the time and effort these bowlers and their coaches are putting in. The Vikings will head off to The Storm Breaker Challenge on Jan. 11, and everyone involved with the team encourages those who have never watched to come out and see what it’s all about, whether that be going to the event itself or checking out the Augustana women’s bowling Facebook page.
“If you don’t understand it, bowling isn’t the most interesting sport to watch,” Lathrop said. “But people should be aware that we [Augustana] have a women’s bowling team. I feel like people see the ‘normal’ sports and just stop at that, but I think that bowling could be something fun for everyone to learn about.”