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Hastings, Neb. – The Columbia College women’s bowling team finished fifth out of ten ten teams at the 2022 Bronco Open, hosted by Hastings College.
After day one, the Cougars sat in fifth-place, just 89 pins back from third-place. Columbia finished the five team games with a total pinfall of 4098 with a game-high of 888 in the third game.
Day two featured 20 baker games, which the Cougars finished with a score 3157 which was the fifth highest total. Columbia eclipsed 200 in two of the baker games, finishing with a 202 in both games 16 and 18. The 202 was tied for the third highest baker game score.
Individually, Columbia had two bowlers finish in the top-15, as Grace Kowalski finished 7th (885) and Katyn Fischer placed 11th (855).
Columbia College Team Result:
5th out of 10
Columbia College Individual Results (out of 69):
7th – Grace Kowalski (172-176-168-164-205—885)
11th – Katyn Fischer (165-157-186-188-159—855)
21st – Katie Leonard (177-146-157-166-153—799)
36th – Claire Sandstrom (183-161-201-119-0—664)
40th – Mollie Lynn Goodwin (187-133-176-143-0—639)
62nd – Jordyn Czerw (0-0-0-0-136—136)
64th – Lindsay Tribble (0-0-0-0-120-120)
Brianna Acord – no individual score, but competed in the baker games.
Head Coach Damon Helgevold:
“This was an interesting weekend. The pattern we saw was something we haven’t bowled on before and provided us some challenges. We still were able to score once we figured out the part of the lane we needed to play. Saturday, we opened with a really good set that put us in 2nd right away. Transition got us in the second game but we answered again in the 3rd set for another high 800 series, 888. The last two sets were tough for us. Couldn’t get away from bad breaks and really couldn’t get our momentum going. We’d throw a great shot then it would be followed up with just a bad break and stop the momentum. Overall, energy was good throughout the day and we were in a pretty good spot and knew we could make up the ground we had lost.
Sunday it just took us a long time to find a groove in Baker games. We tried multiple lineups with multiple people, hoping something would spark and it just never did. We caught fire in one or two games through the first 10 but man it was tough. Then something clicked for us in game 11. We started to rattle off solid scores like we had all week in practice leading up. Battled through the early morning woes and actually gave ourselves a shot again late in the day to take 4th. Just couldn’t get the breaks needed in the final two Baker games to get us the one spot higher. In the last game, I think we hit flush pocket on three straight shots and left single pins. Unfortunately, we didn’t convert those, but we’ll get better. Going to be a lot of hard work this week in preparation for what will be a solid field at McKendree.
There is still a lot for us to compete for and that’s what makes the final two guaranteed tournaments of the year exciting. Postseason goals are still there. We just have to want it and go achieve those goals we set forth to do.”
Up Next:
The Cougars travel to Belleville, Ill. to compete in the McKendree Baker Challenge on Feb. 5-6.
