Men’s Bowling wins Storm Baker Challenge for second year in a row
Addison, IL – The Calumet College of St. Joseph men's bowling team returned to Addison for the Storm Baker Challenge after taking 9th the weekend before at the Kegel/ISBPA Midwest Collegiate Classic. CCSJ was able to hoist the Storm Baker Challenge award for the second consecutive season in both varsity and junior varsity.
During Day 1, the Crimson Wave battled to maintain a top three position against Purdue University and Judson University. CCSJ finished Saturday in 2nd place through six sets with an overall total of 4679 leading into Sunday's sets.
Calumet College would remain in 2nd following the qualifying rounds, as they posted a score of 7853, just 226 behind Purdue University in first.
As the No. 2 seed in the varsity bracket, the Wave faced No. 3-seeded Judson in round one. Each round being a best of five series, CCSJ swept Judson 3-0 to advance to the championship round.
Taking on No. 4-seeded Missouri Baptist in the final, who upset No. 1-seeded Purdue 3-2, it would take a valiant effort from the Wave. After splitting the first two games, Calumet College put together one of its best stretches of the season, bowling nine strikes that led to scoring 278 in game three. With a 2-1 series lead, they shot 235 in the deciding game four to claim the first-place award. The Crimson Wave won the championship round by a 40-pin margin.
Head coach Mike Kubacki was in hopes to see improvement from the bowling team at the start of the new year and after earning a first-place finish in Addison, IL, Kubacki thinks they are certainly going in the right direction.
"Ultimately the regular season is just about getting ready for a post season run and the way we finished the Storm Baker tournament, I'm happy," Kubacki said. "We're getting closer to where we want to be and we have a better understanding of what it takes to be successful."
Calumet College's JV team also had a successful outing, finishing Saturday in 1st with a total of 4270. On Sunday, the team kept pace throughout the remainder of the qualifying rounds to finish 1st with a score of 7408.
Junior Patrick McLetchie led the junior varsity to the championship and Kubacki said McLetchie did everything he asked of him and more during this year's baker challenge.
"I wanted McLetchie to get more playing time so I told him go to JV and lead that team and bowl anchor and he bowled great," Kubacki said. "His teammates raved about him so that was nice to see and hear."
Kubacki continued, "We also put Taylor Haines on the varsity team and although he didn't bowl the way he had helped, he was valuable on the bench from tracking feet, to giving out good information and advice. He was another person that impacted the team more than he knows."
Up Next
The Crimson Wave have a short break until they return to action on February 10 in Indianapolis, IN at the Hoosier Classic.