Waldorf Men’s Bowling – Hoosier Classic 2014
Waldorf Men’s Bowling Nick Heimerman
On Valentine’s Day weekend the Waldorf Men’s bowling team traveled to Indianapolis, IN to bowl in the Hoosier Classic. This was the longest travel the bowling team has had to make this season. The team left on Thursday at 3:30 pm and stopped for the night in Peoria, IL. On Friday they started back on the road again and what was supposed to be a short three and a half hour drive turned into almost six hours because of weather conditions.
As soon as the Warriors arrived in Indianapolis they went straight to the bowling alley for a Friday Night Sweeper. This was a short mini-tournament before the Hoosier Classic tournament which was held on Saturday and Sunday. In the Sweeper both High School and College bowlers were able to participate adding up to 310 bowlers. The tournament was set up that everyone bowls two games and then they would cut to the top 64; the top 64 would bowl one game and then they would cut to the top 32 and so on. After the first two games Waldorf had two bowlers, Caleb Bain and Tony Manna, who made the first cut into the top 64. To end the night both bowlers were unable to make the second cut into the top 32, but they each earned $60 in scholarship money for making the first cut.
The Hoosier Classic tournament layout was set up for teams to bowl six individual games on Saturday and then another three individual games on Sunday. The top 12 of the 78 teams after the nine individual would advance into elimination brackets.
The Warriors had a rough first game series and started out the tournament bowling at series of 774, which is the all-time low for the season. Waldorf Sophomore, Darrick Marcks bowled the highest game of 162.
The team quickly pulled themselves together in the next set of games bowling a series of 905. The team’s goal for the entire season was to average 900 series, so it was a great feeling for the team to be able to hit their goal. Marcks also had the high game of the series bowling a 213 game.
In game three the Warriors were unable to repeat their success they had in the second game. They finished the game off bowling yet another low series of 785. Freshman bowler, Nick Heimerman had the high game of the series bowling a 192 game.
The Warriors ended off the next three games with series of 833, 899 and 847 and high games of 193, 192 and 205. Waldorf, at the end of day one, was placed 69 out of 78 teams. Team captain, Caleb Bain reacted to the first day stating, “We really struggled on day one due to the lane conditions”.
Kicking off day two the Warriors bowled a series of 895 Heimerman again had the high game of the series with a 188 game. The team then went on to bowl a series of 892 for the seventh game; Marcks had the high game of the series with a 190 game. Finishing off the second day the Warriors bowled high series of the weekend of 962. Freshman bowler, Brett Bulson had the high game of the series and of the weekend, bowling a 233 game. The Waldorf Warrior Men’s team finished off the weekend in 58th out of 78 teams. Jumping eleven teams from the first day!
The Hoosier Classic was the last tournament of the season for the bowling team. Although they may qualify for the ITC sectionals over Spring Break. Bain reacted to the end of the season by saying, “ Overall I was very pleased on how the team grew and stepped into new roles as the season continued. We ended the last couple tournaments of the season with our strongest finishes, but we still have a lot more room to improve for the next season”.