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Indianapolis, Ind. – The Columbia College women’s bowling team competed in the 53rd annual Hoosier Classic over the weekend in the team’s final regular-season tournament of the season.
In the prestigious tournament for the first time in program history, Columbia placed 49th out of 65 teams from across the country.
The tournament began on Friday, as the participating teams bowled six team games. The team finished the six games with a score of 4927. The Cougars rolled a team-high 857 in game three. After day one, the Cougars sat in 53rd place.
On Sunday, the teams rolled 15 baker games to conclude the tournament. The Cougars had a solid day and jumped up four spots in the standings. The team finished the first five-game set with an 841, followed by sets of 809 and 950.
Jordyn Czerw placed 63rd in the loaded field, averaging a score of 188.
Head Coach Damon Helgevold:
“There is no doubt that the Hoosier Classic is one of the most prestigious events in collegiate bowling. I was lucky enough to participate in 3 Hoosier Classics in my college career and now leading the first Columbia team there is just fantastic.
All week long, we talked about how different and mentally exhausting this tournament would be from the others we go to. Since we were in the evening shift, we didn’t start until 4:30 pm, and six games on Saturday night meant we were competing at 12:00 am. It was a very mentally exhausting day. Threw some great shots on Saturday and some not great shots as well. We overcame many of our mistakes earlier in the session, but as it wore on, so did we. It was a great challenge for this group.
Sunday was much better, even though we had to be back at 11:30 am. It started off with a good Baker set to begin the day. Then ran into a pair of lanes that were just odd. We would throw a shot, and it did the opposite of what adjustment we had just talked about. So that set wasn’t the best, but we clawed out another 800 series. Then in our final set, we put together four extremely good games. The energy was great, and the execution was the best all weekend. I made a couple of lineup changes, which paid off for us collectively.
We have to wait and see our fate for sectionals this week. Then we go to Chesterfield with an NAIA National Tournament bid on the line at conference. It was a great weekend overall and definitely a learning experience for the ladies and myself.”
Up Next:
Next weekend, the Cougars compete in the Unaffiliated Conference Grouping in Chesterfield, Mo. The winning of the unaffiliated grouping will earn an automatic bid to the NAIA National Tournament.
