Pride bowling's October starts at deep field of Midwest Collegiate Championships

DETROIT, Mich. - Following a strong opening weekend, the Clarke University bowling teams headed to Detroit, Mich. for the Midwest Collegiate Championships as the Pride women finished in 28th with the men placing in 39th.

In a women's field that saw 304 individuals bowl at least one game, CU junior Emily Larson placed in 32nd place with a career-high tournament average of 190.4 over all five games bowled as she finished over 200 pins in three different games with a 269 in game two to lead the way for Clarke's women's team.

On the men's side, freshman Austin McFarland led the individual side of things for the Pride with his 84th place finish where he averaged 192.8 pins over his five games with his five games going no lower than 167 and his best scoring game producing a 234, which was also the best individual game for CU on Saturday.

Only two other members of the women's team bowled all five games during Saturday's individual portion of the tournament with Alexa McDaniel scoring a 167 average  and a 199 best game then Jennifer Hayakawa finished at an average of 164.4 after her 822 total pins through five games.

The lone member behind McFarland to bowl all five games was Camryn Stefanini, who had two games over 200 pins to finish with a total of 888 for an average of 177.6 while Andrew Sass bowling four games to a 179-pin average and no member of the team bowled less than two games as Harley Redding had the best individual average overall but only in three games with the junior finishing at 201.67 with games of 225 and 213.

Cole Nietert and Mason Trapp both entered the Clarke lineup three times as well during individual games as that tandem finished less than a pin apart on average with a 171.33 average for Nietert and an even average of 171 pins for Trapp then Zach Reuter rounded out the tournament scoring with his 317 total pins over two games for a 158.5 average.

Closing out the women's scoring were a quintet of freshmen with last week's standout Mia Losee bowling four games to a 165 average coming off of her All-Tournament performance in her first collegiate event, Zoie Swanson and Maddy Ardiaz each bowled two games to averages of 169.5 and 106 respectively, and Anna Sickels and Asher Merz each competed in a game with Sickels producing a 169 and Merz bowling a game of 144.

CU's men had more success in Sunday's baker session as they produced a total of 2,887 pins to average 180.44 over 16 games bowled with five games over 200, including a best game of 215 in game one right out of the gate with the women finishing baker games with 2,564 to average 160.25 over the 16 games as their best game came in the ninth for their only game over 200 at 205.

Pride bowling will be off this week before getting back to action in the fall with a trip to Eau Claire, Wis. on Oct. 18-19 for the Stout Open.