Foresters open up league play in Fort Wayne over weekend

Huntington, Ind. – The HU bowling teams kicked off the conference season this past weekend with back-to-back one-day events in Fort Wayne. Each Crossroads tournament consisted of three team games and 12 Baker games with HU hosting Friday's tourney at Pro Bowl West while Saturday's competition was hosted by Grace at MVP Lanes.

In the first event the women scored a total of 4585 to finish 3rd out of eight varsity teams. Jaymie Clere led the way individually with a 5th place finish out of 70 bowlers by averaging 176 for three games on a very demanding oil pattern. 

"We got to pick the pattern for Friday, and we chose a difficult pattern," noted Coach Mike Shockey. "We succeeded in keeping the scoring pace for all bowlers much lower than normal."

On Saturday, the women again found themselves in 3rd place with a score of 4648. Lilly Pryor paced the Foresters with a 5th place finish having turned in a three-game average of 193.3.

Shockey was pleased with his team's performance. "I think the weekend was a success for the girls. They bowled as a team and again showed that they can be competitive any given weekend."

The Huntington varsity men struggled most of the weekend. Friday, they took 3rd with a total score of 5027. Earl Garner led the way with an average of 219.7 to claim third out of 74 bowlers.  Saturday the Foresters finished 4th with a score of 5376. Leland Jones topped Shockey's crew with an 11th place finish by averaging 213 through three games. 

Of this men's team, Shockey said, "Both days we started game one really well, but just got in our own way the rest of the day."

The Huntington men's JV squad finished 2nd out of five teams both days. Friday saw HU knock down 4702 pins with Michael Lichtenberg leading the way. The junior from Ohio placed 2nd with a 211 average while teammate Nathan Brazeau finished two spots back in 4th by averaging 182. Both were named to the All-Tournament Team.

Day two was exciting with the Foresters leading for a good portion of the day before wrapping up with a 2nd place finish having tallied 5412 pins highlighted by three HU athletes earning All-Tournament Team designations.

David McLaughlin had an outstanding outing, topping the field by averaging 230.3 per game. Nathan Brazeau (226.3 average) and Lichtenberg (215.7 average) finished 3rd and 4th respectively to also earn a spot on the All-Tourney Team.

"The JV guys brought a ton of energy this weekend and were fun to watch and listen to Saturday especially," said Shockey.

Huntington is off until the new year when they compete in the Kegel/ISBPA Midwest Collegiate Classic January 17-18 in Addison, Ill.

The Huntington University Foresters compete in 18 intercollegiate sports for men-3-3. and women. In the past decade, Huntington has produced 160 NAIA All-America honors and 567 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 Report ranks Huntington among the best colleges in the Midwest.