Oct 31, 2023

MEN'S TEAM EARNS 5th AT JAYHAWK CHALLENGE

October 28th and 29th, the SNU Men’s and Women’s Bowling Teams traveled to Topeka and Lawrence, Kansas to take part in the 2023 Jayhawk Collegiate Challenge. The Men’s Team, currently ranked #13 in the Nation, tried to follow up their 6th place finish in the Tier I event in Wichita with a clutch performance on a very challenging lane pattern in Lawrence, Kansas.

After a tough 16 games of Baker play and two individual team games on Saturday, the Men’s team earned the 4th place position after Day One. Day Two featured three more individual team games then the Top 8 teams would move on to bracket pod play. After the three games of individual team play the Crimson Storm Men’s Team qualified 4th and moved on to bracket pod play. The Men’s Team was led by Tobias Hurte averaging 204.75 during the five individual team games. During the 16 games of Baker play, the Men’s Team averaged 192.81 on a very tough lane pattern.

“Honestly, I believe our team has one of the best leadoff players in the nation in Tobias Hurte,” said Coach Jeffreys. “Tobias’ ability to read, react and communicate to the entire team is so good. To be performing at this level as a freshman is an indication of how hard Tobias works on his game.”

The Men’s Team went on to bracket pod play, an elimination format where there are two pods of four teams of which each team bowls four games, each game on a different lane and the top two teams move on to the next round of pod bracket games. SNU, Wichita State, Ottawa and St. Mary’s were in one pod while Newman, Nebraska, Hastings and Kansas State were in the other pod bracket.

The SNU Men’s Team got off to a slow start in the Baker team format grinding out 166 Game 1 but battled back Game 2 and 3 with 206 and 203 which placed the Crimson Storm 16 pins behind making Round Two of pod bracket play going into the final game. “We moved to a lane that was pretty burned up by the other teams,” said Coach Jeffreys. “The ball reaction was really strong and we did not make a move quick enough to have a chance to advance into the next round. This was a learning experience and will definitely help this team when we encounter a similar situation in the future. This is something we will review in our post tournament video session. Still, a great performance by this group in Lawrence and we will continue to learn from our experiences during this first season and beyond.”

The SNU Men’s Team finished 5th out of 16 teams while the Women’s Team finished 9th out of 15 teams and barely missed the cut by two pins. The SNU Women’s Team was led by freshman Makena Cruz who averaged 180 during the individual team games.

Next up for the SNU Men’s and Women’s Teams, SWIBC III & IV in Ft. Worth, Texas on November 11th and 12th at City View Lanes.

Make sure you check out the SNU Bowling Facebook page @ SNUBowling

MEN'S FINAL POD BRACKET