The women’s bowling team finished 10th place out of 57 teams at the Illinois State Bowling Proprietors Association (ISBPA)/Kegel Midwest Collegiate Classic held on January 15 and 16. The event took place at the Stardust Bowl, in Addison, Illinois.
On the first day, the Flyers accumulated a 4,576 total through five traditional games which placed them 19th among the competition. But on Sunday, the team achieved a score of 3,860 in 20 baker games and a 193 average. The Flyers had 19 games of 165 or better, with high games of 246 and 241.
Individually, the Flyers had senior Kylie Johnson with the highest score within the team scoring a 973 over five games. Sophomore Erika Lohr had a 958, followed by junior Kayla Dench with 948 and sophomore DeAlani Fishbeck with a 915. Sophomore Alyson Young shot a 317 in two games and junior Amber-Grace Carroll added a 167 game. Freshman Savanna Jourdan and junior Kelsey Olson added games of 158 and 140 respectively.
Johnson was the highest-ranked Flyer at the tournament, finishing in 46th place among 356 female bowlers. The business administration major, finance minor, is also the oldest and the only Flyer remaining from the first ever 2018 recruiting class. “Bowling has only been around for four years, so I was actually one of the first people to get recruited,” said Johnson. “I am the only person left from my freshman year, everybody else has either graduated or quit.”
With that in mind, Johnson is aware that her teammates see her as a leader as she is the one with the most experience bowling collegiately. “I think a lot of the girls reach out to me when they have problems or questions about basically anything,” said Johnson. “So I think they look up to me as a role model, a captain, even though I don’t necessarily have the title.”
Johnson did not perform as well as she wanted to last year, so she wants to work on what she missed and enjoy her senior season to the fullest. “I just really want to fix everything that I struggled with last year, which is a lot of mental stability,” said Johnson. “I tend to get down on myself when I do bad, so this year I just want to be consistent, working harder and focusing more on bettering my spares.”
The team will be back to the lanes on February 4 at the Saints Invite hosted by Maryville University in St. Louis, Missouri.
Photo Credit: Somkene Ugwu
