LIMA, Ohio – Contested on the first weekend of the intercollegiate bowling season, the Racers Classic is also billed as the "Kickoff Classic," and Notre Dame College kicked the campaign into gear with victories in both the Women's Varsity and Women's Junior Varsity divisions at 20th Century Lanes, on September 21 and 22.
Sitting in fourth place in the Varsity division after the first four games of Saturday's block of five standard team games, the Falcons exploded for a fifth-game total of 1,042, 80 pins above the next-highest score posted during the tournament on the challenging PBA Viper oil pattern. The attack was led by seniors
Jessica Shufelt (254 with nine strikes) and
Alisha Noon (246 with eight strikes). The big game vaulted Notre Dame to the top of the leader board after the first day of competition, ten pins ahead of Wright State University.
The lead changed hands three times during Sunday's exciting Baker games (in which each team member rolls two frames of a single ten-frame game). Heading into the last four-game block, only 17 pins separated Notre Dame, Wright State and Lawrence Technological University. When the dust settled at the end of the preliminary rounds, the Falcons found themselves in third place, trailing Wright State by 47 pins and new tournament leader Lawrence Tech by 64 pins.
The top four teams advanced to the final match-play bracket, and—just as they had done on Saturday—the Falcons bowled their best at the end of the day. They romped over Wright State with Baker game scores of 222 and 199, then claimed the title over Concordia University (who had defeated Lawrence Tech in the other semi-final match) with games of 199 and 190.
Senior
Alexandria Dick was named to the All-Tournament Team with 958 total pins for Saturday's five games, a 191 average, while Shufelt was close behind with 946. Holding down the anchor spot throughout Sunday's 20 Baker games, Dick struck 35 times in 57 attempts (61%). She converted 19 of 20 single pin spares during the weekend.
In the Junior Varsity division, Notre Dame led from wire to wire. Senior
Gabriella Calderon led the scoring on Saturday with a 173 average. During Sunday's Baker games, the team posted a 208 score, one pin higher than the Varsity team's best effort prior to the semi-finals.
In the men's competition, held across town at Westgate Entertainment Center, Notre Dame's Varsity team finished fifth, narrowly missing the final bracket, while the Junior Varsity Falcons took fourth place. Junior
Daniel Marriott averaged 212 and was named to the men's All-Tournament Team.
The tournament, celebrating its 10th year, was hosted by the University of Northwestern Ohio.
The Falcon bowlers will next travel to Wauwatosa, Wisconsin, to compete in the Midwest Collegiate Championships on October 4 and 5.
