Men’s Bowling Team Hits it Big in Vegas
Las Vegas, Nev. - On December 15th the Martin Methodist College Men's Bowling Team went on an inaugural trip to Las Vegas for the ASU Las Vegas Invitational and the Sam’s Town Shootout.
In the ASU Las Vegas Invitational, after 9 qualifying games Martin Methodist found themselves in 6th place behind powerhouses Wichita, UNLV, Calumet, Fresno and Nebraska. The National Collegiate Bowling Coaches Association Coaches’ Poll ranked Martin ranked 18th who finished ahead of 15th Missouri Baptist, 11th Florida State, and 5th Pikeville College. Propelling Martin ahead to this 6th place finish was Sean Rutherford with a 7th place individual finish and with a 215.88 average. It was a team effort with Brian Huther finishing with a 197 average and Nick Parker had a 196 average. Brandon Tate added a 202 average for 8 of 9 games along with Anthony Szeluga’s 195 average. Tyrel York came off the bench and contributed with a needed high game of 196.
The top 15 teams advanced to the Men's Bracket Finals Baker Format. Martin had a bye in round one, defeated ASU Cain in round two and moved ahead to the quarter-finals that included only 8 teams. Martin then defeated Calumet to advance them to the semi-final top 4. Martin’s progress stopped when they suffered a game 5 loss 190- 193 to UNLV Red. Martin finished the tournament in 4th place behind UC Davis Gold, UNLV Red, and University of Nebraska-Omaha.
Coming off a 4th place finish at the Las Vegas Invitational, Martin Methodist came out ready to go at the Sam’s Town Shootout. After two games of qualifying the RedHawks found themselves leading a field full of the best programs in college bowling. As the day wore on, the bonus pins, in this particular tournament format got the best of the RedHawks. After qualifying, without the bonus pins, the RedHawks were 2nd to only to No. 1 ranked Wichita State in average. It was a great showing by the RedHawks, to say the least. Led by Sean Rutherford with his 1st top 5 finish, The RedHawks also had two other bowlers in the top 20. Anthony Szeluga was 11th and Brandon Tate was 17th. It was an all around great team effort.
Coming off a 4th place finish at the Las Vegas Invitational, Martin Methodist came out ready to go at the Sam’s Town Shootout. After two games of qualifying the RedHawks found themselves leading a field full of the best programs in college bowling. As the day wore on, the bonus pins, in this particular tournament format got the best of the RedHawks. After qualifying, without the bonus pins, the RedHawks were 2nd to only to No. 1 ranked Wichita State in average. It was a great showing by the RedHawks, to say the least. Led by Sean Rutherford with his 1st top 5 finish, The RedHawks also had two other bowlers in the top 20. Anthony Szeluga was 11th and Brandon Tate was 17th. It was an all around great team effort.
With the baker games starting the Wichita State Shockers had distanced themselves from the other 39 teams, and left the RedHawks attempting to take the runner-up position. The lanes had started to change and there was a time where it looked bad for Martin. However cooler heads prevailed and the RedHawks came home to a very impressive 2nd place finish in the Sam's Town Shootout.
“The guys just seemed to see the lanes this week”, said assistant coach Norm Titus. “When we needed a shot we got it. When the lanes changed we made the moves. We have been this talented all year; I’ve had some trouble getting the guys to believe that they are ready to compete at this level. I would think that we just became a real nuisance to the teams that are used to beating us every week. I am pretty sure that they won’t find it so easy to beat up on us any more. We are a top 10 team in the country right now and should be for a while.”
When the team gets back from the holiday break they will get back to practice and will be traveling to the Hoinke Bearcat Open in Cincinnati, Ohio.