Waldorf Continues Building

Men’s bowling takes 6th. Photo by Damon Helgevold

By: Damon Helgevold

Waldorf University mens’ bowling took another huge step forward this past weekend. Waldorf used a consistent approach to qualify 6th and make match play during the Five Seasons Classic in Cedar Rapids, hosted by Mount Mercy University.

Waldorf posted five games within the 900 team total mark to set them in 5th for qualifying after day one. Leading the way for the Warriors was sophomore Kyle Swiderski shooting a 958 series over five games and averaging 191. Swiderski finished 16th as an individual; he was joined in the top 25 by fellow sophomore Damon Helgevold who shot 892 over five games and averaged 178, finishing 25th. Senior Nick Heimerman averaged 188 over four games, and sophomore Tyler Doss averaged 180 for four games on the Saturday qualifying portion.

“The men showed perseverance and determination to overcome a rough day of bowling and make a run at match play. The progress we made was primarily with how we will handle our attitudes for future tournaments. We have a lot of work to do, but we are headed in the correct direction,” head coach Joe Squires said.

On Sunday the Warriors struggled to make a move forward during the 16-game baker portion of the event.

“The first day of competition really displayed our consistency and spare shooting. The second day through baker games, we struggled to find our own rhythm and settle in with success. We met the champion team head on and forced them into game three and made them earn the win,” Squires said.

Waldorf finished in 6th place, making them eligible for match-play for the second straight week. In the first round of match-play the Warriors drew the three seed of the tournament and top 20 team in the nation, Grandview. Grandview took game one following a few breaks for them, and Waldorf struggled with breaks in game one. Game two was different as Waldorf took advantage of breaks and won that game easily. For the decisive game, Waldorf got off to a slow start opening in two of the first five frames as Grandview built a big lead. In the last five frames Waldorf really pushed the Vikings to the end, and Grandview ended up taking the game–overall winning the match two games to one.

“We need to find a rhythm through baker games and learn to adjust off of our teammates’ shots. [Also, we need to] clean up our first shot consistency to help make those team adjustments easier,” Squires said.

Grandview ended up running the table and taking first place for the tournament. Waldorf looks to make a bounce back against defending champions of the Jayhawk Classic this weekend in Lawrence, Kansas.