CANTON, Mich. -- The Notre Dame men's and women's bowling squads traveled to Michigan this past weekend for their first American Heartland Conference Tournaments of the year. The teams bowled two consecutive tournaments on Saturday, October 27th and Sunday October 28th. In Saturday's tournament, they bowled five individual regular games and twelve baker games. Sunday's tournament was four individual regular games and sixteen baker games.

During Saturday's tournament, the women's varsity team bowled solidly and led the field for most of the morning individual games. They came out of the blocks strong averaging 200 for their first two games. Junior Rachel Foreback led the team during Saturday's individual games, rolling a fantastic 247 first game en route to a five game 998 series and landed a 3rd place individual award. Senior Hannah Klein bowled a 2nd game of 237 to support her 927 5 game series, which was good enough for 12th among the women bowlers. Senior Sarah Benedict, who finished 16th individually, and Junior Olivia Johnson rolled games of 214 and 210, respectively to support the team during the individual games. On the junior varsity squad, Donajah Bragg rolled a 173 game. During the baker games, the women had a slow start to the first set of baker games, but did manage to roll four games over 200 during the total of 12 baker games that they bowled. They settled into a respectable 3rd place finish out of 15 teams.

The men's team on Saturday finished 4th in the standings after the individual games. Sophomore Aiden Compton led the men, bowling strong games of 259 and finishing his regular games with a 247 for a total of 1,125, averaging a blistering 225 for his individual games. Senior Connor Gallagher finished his individual games with consecutive games over 200. Sophomore Alex Etheredge rolled games of 204 and 236 to support the team effort and senior Michael Wiese rolled games of 205 and 201. Sophomore Josh Dohm finished his individual games with a strong 231 game. For the junior varsity team, Anthony Shield had a fantastic day and finished first among the JV men's team, rolling a 249 and 255 game, for a total of 1,094, averaging almost 219 for his games. For the junior varsity men, freshman Hunter Brackman settled into an impressive 9th place finish. He rolled games of 223 and 220, for a total of 988, averaging almost 200 for the day. The varsity team landed in the 3rd spot out of 20 teams.

The women's team, on Sunday, earned a 2nd place finish. Once again during the regular games, junior Rachel Foreback led the team, rolling four consecutive games above 200, including a 231 third game, averaging 210 for the day. She finished only 16 pins behind the lead bowler for the entire tournament. Freshman Carly Jones averaged 195 for the day. Junior Olivia Johnson rolled game of 213 and a team high 248 game, to average 193 during this tournament. Senior Sara Benedict, senior Hannah Klein and junior Olivia Brace also contributed games over 200 during the individual games. The team bowled an impressive 1,088 fourth game, with all 5 players rolling games of over 200. During the baker games, the team rolled five games over 200, including a team-high 234. The winning team of the event, Davenport University, bowled a timely 268 game during the last block to seal the win and the Falcons settled in to a 2nd place finish.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the bowling alley, the men settled into an 8th place finish in the Sunday finale. During the individual games, sophomore Aiden Compton led the men with a four-game total of 872, averaging 218, in a 15th place finish in the field. Seniors Connor Gallagher and Wiese bowled to averages of 212 and 211, respectively. Sophomore Josh Dohm, after a slow start, finished strong averaging over 200 for his four games. For the junior varsity team, freshman Anthony Shields had an impressive 846 total, for a 211 average, and finished 6th among all junior varsity men.

The Falcons travel to Columbus at Wayne Webb's Bowl for a Saturday only tournament, on Nov. 4.