Crimson Storm Teams Earn Hardware in Texas at SWIBC I & II

Southern Nazarene University Men’s and Women’s Bowling teams took the lanes on October 3rd and 4th for the SWIBC 1 and 2 tournaments.  SWIBC 1 and 2 are two separate tournaments that took place over one weekend in Garland, Texas. It is the first of the eight SWIBC tournaments that take place over the season.

SWIBC 1 consisted of five players bowling four individual games and ten baker games that created a bracket for match play. Match play baker games took the four top scoring teams where seeds one and four battled and seeds two and three battled. The match play results were based on the highest pin fall from two games. This was the first time SWIBC has used this match play format. In SWIBC 2, players bowled six singles games. 

In SWIBC 1, SNU Men’s Varsity faced struggles during the early singles games. Due to unforeseen circumstances, there was a challenge for the tournament staff when the lane machine malfunctioned and the lane conditions were unlike the lane pattern the teams were sent prior to the SWIBIC 1 event. 

After a challenging first two games of individual team play with game totals of 868 and 883, the Crimson Storm battled back to earn scores of 1,024 and 1,049 in Game 3 and 4 of individual team play and earned the number 3 position entering Baker Team play. 

During Baker Team play, the SNU Men’s team struggled but maintained the number four position going into Game 10 of Baker Team play.  During the final game of Baker Team play, the Crimson Storm ran into a tough pair of lanes and ended the qualifying round in 5th place.  The Top 4 teams in qualifying would move on to the Match Play round and SNU missed the cut by 50 pins  

“This is something that happens in this sport on occasion,” said Coach Jeffreys.  “When the lane conditions are demanding, you must fill frames and we did not execute in key frames during our final game of Baker Play.  You learn from the challenges you experience and what we learned on Saturday will make us a better team going forward.  The season is super early and the takeaways from this event are motivating factors for success.  It’s all good”

Riley Speer earned 5th place All Tournament Team (ATT) with an average of 203.8.  “The oil pattern they put out on Saturday was tricky with the mistake they made while oiling the lanes, it made spare shooting a premium and made it very hard to strike,” said the sophomore from Indiana..  “I was fortunate enough to sneak into fifth place for ATT after staying mostly clean on my spares and grinding most of the day.” 

The next step, on to SWIBC 2 the following day with six Individual Team games.  “We went into the second event with a different attitude and approach,” said Coach Jeffreys.  “Did we learn from the challenges on Saturday, we found the answer to that question early in the day.”  SNU started the tournament with a 1,050. Junior, Dylan Terada earned the highest score of the weekend for SNU opening the SWIBC 2 with a front eight game earning him a 254. He shared “It was a real confidence booster. I was focused on the team and just trying to make one good shot at a time.” 

The Crimson Storm was in the lead during games two and three with team totals of 941 and 956. In games four through six, they totaled 914, 1,037, and 986. They ended the day with second place finish and total pin count of 5,884. Three players finished in the top ten with freshman Diego Lujan in 6th, Speer in 7th, and senior Brandon Handog in 10th. Lujan expressed

“My first freshman SWIBC was a learning experience. We pulled through to earn second place.” Terada echoed this saying “On Sunday our communication with each other and Coach Jeffreys was the best it has been this year. We were figuring things out together.”  SNU finished behind Newman University with a Team Score of 5,884 for the six Individual Team games.  “This was a great bounce back from Saturday’s performance and there is huge value in failure on how this team responds to adversity.  I’m really proud of what this team accomplished this past weekend.”

SNU Women’s had one of the best finishes in the program in SWIBC 1. Jeffreys and graduate assistant Alexander Hepp agreed it was a true team effort. After the singles games, the Crimson Storm was seeded fourth and faced first seeded Louisiana Tech. After the two baker games, SNU came within 15 pins of LA Tech and went to face Barton Community College for third place. SNU Women’s got third place in the SWIBC 1 match play with a total pin fall of the day of 4,596. 

In SWIBC 2, they struggled in the first of the singles games, but were able to make a comeback with freshman Chryslyn Sakata being in fourth for ATT with a 175.17 average and sophomore Hannah Roberson earning ninth place with 165 average.

Sakata reflected positively on her first SWIBC experience, “It was a great learning experience. My teammates and I were really pushed and were able to see ourselves come together as a team.” Roberson had her best tournament ever. She shared how the atmosphere of this tournament was different with lots of encouragement from her teammates, coaches, and parents throughout the day. She explained “Starting off was a bit rough, but eventually I figured it out with the help of communicating with my teammates and coach. By the third game I had figured it out more and ended up with 172 in games three, four, and five!” The women’s team ended in fourth place with a team total of 4,644. 

This weekend was also the first time SNU Bowling had a junior varsity (JV) team on the Men’s side. In SWIBC 2, sophomore Trevor Trousil was the third ranked JV player with a 185.8 average. Jeffreys expressed he was glad that the entire program was able to gain college bowling experience on a challenging lane condition.

Both sides of the Crimson Storm learned much and were able to walk away with team trophies and ATTs. Jeffreys joked “It is always nice to drive back on I-35 with some new hardware.” 

Next for the Crimson Storm is the Mid States Tier One in Wichita, Kansas on October 16-17. 

Story by Trynite Krout

Photo Credits: Trynitie Krout and Mark Jeffreys