In any sport, the process of preparation is critical to success when it’s game on. The week of practice prior to the Crimson Storm Men’s Bowling Team event in Fairview Heights, Illinois was a pivotal part of the success SNU earned in the McKendree Collegiate Match Games, the second Tier I event for the Crimson Storm.
The two day Tier I event featured five games of individual team play on Saturday combined with 20 Baker Match Games on Sunday. During Saturday’s individual team play, the highlight of the day was the perfect 300 game by Staten Island, New York sophomore, Brandon Handog. The 12 perfect shots came during game two and helped the Crimson Storm earn the number four spot in the 25 university team field after Day One.
CLICK ON THE IMAGE ABOVE TO PLAY THE VIDEO
“This was the first 300 during competition in SNU program history and honestly, it was one of the coolest 300’s I have seen,” said Coach Jeffreys. “Brandon has worked really hard on his down and in game and that’s not his best part of his game. On Saturday, he was dialed in and made 12 great shots. If you watch the video you can see how fired up Brandon was and his teammates after shot number 12.”
The Crimson Storm ended Day One in 4th with 5,249 while averaging 1,049 per game. Brandon Handog led the way by averaging 222.4 for his five games of which was the #12 player in the 100+ player field. Tobias Hurte earned a great Day One averaging 212.8 for the five games. “Tobias has been battling an injury all season and his performance on Saturday showed some guts and helped place us in a great position going into Day Two,” said Coach Jeffreys. “Like I have said before, Tobias is one of the best leadoff players in the nation and his game was so solid on Saturday while he was battling an injury. Tough kid and I am so glad he is part of this program.”
Sophomore, David Swavely and Freshman, Louie Pisano had a solid Day One averaging 211.4 and 208.6 respectfully. “This was a lane pattern that was very scoreable but you had to make good shots,” said Coach Jeffreys. “The work the players put in during practice really helped the players understand what was happening with the lane conditions as the day progressed. This was absolutely the best communication between players we have experienced all season breaking down the pattern.”
Day Two featured 20 Baker Games. During the 2023 event, the Crimson Storm were in the same position, 4th after Day One, but struggled to an 8th place finish. 2024’s Day Two was different than 2023. “I decided to change the lineup due to the fact that Tobias Hurte was out due to injury and the lane pattern on the fresh was a good match for Sienna Stoner,” said Coach Jeffreys. “The sophomore from Tacoma, Washington had a great look on the down and in pattern and she was a big contributor to our success on Sunday in Baker play. Junior, Landen Hodge gave us a big lift filling up frames with X’s when we needed some strikes. The lanes began to open up and Landen is really good when the lanes open up.”
Unlike the collapse in 2023 that resulted in a drop from 4th to 10th, the 2024 version did not collapse and put on a rally after a little bit of adversity. After struggling games 11-14, the Crimson Storm went to work and finished Day Two with scores of 200, 269, 219, 235, 233 and 202 earning a 6th place finish in the 2024 McKendree Collegiate Match Games.
“This was a really solid event for our team,” said Coach Jeffreys. “We did not fold when things were going downhill. Landen Hodge sparked this team at a critical time and Sienna help us to get into the position to finish 6th. This field was stacked with some great teams and for us to fight through adversity and finish 6th is great and sets the tone going into our two Vegas Tier I events in December.”
The latest USBC Collegiate Men’s Poll was released on November 26th and the Crimson Storm have cracked the Top 20 earning the 18th position in the poll. “The Vegas events are going to be huge if we want to finish in the Top 16 this season,” said Coach Jeffreys. “Our goal was to finish in the Top 16 and we are in a great position to make that happen. We have to improve our spare game and fill percentage during Baker play but, we did improve at the Fairview Heights event this past weekend. We know what we need to do……..now we just have to make things happen. It’s on us.”
The Crimson Storm head to Las Vegas, Nevada on December 17th, for the Glenn Carlson Invitational and the Collegiate Shoot-Out hosted at Southpoint Lanes. Follow the SNU Bowling Program on snubowling.com
In other news........
2025 High School Senior, Riley Speer, from Beech Grove, Indiana, who is one of the top High School players in the nation was in attendance with his parents NTCMG and officially became part of the Crimson Storm family.
Welcome Riley!!!
FINAL STANDINGS
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