UCF bowlers strike seventh at national competition
By Natalie Rodriguez
A group of UCF student bowlers smashed pins and raised eyebrows with a seventh place finish at the Intercollegiate Bowling Championship April 24-26. The men’s and women’s teams both qualified for the tournament this year, and traveled to Tulsa, Okla., to compete.
The UCF teams were both eliminated in the fourth round April 24, with the men falling to Nebraska and the women to Florida State.
The Central Missouri State University women and Wichita State University men won their respective competitions to claim the national titles.
The competition was the second national tournament appearance for the UCF men’s team, which placed 13th in 2002.
To reach the national tournament this year, the men’s and women’s teams competed in a sectional tournament in Louisville, Ky. March 22, where the men finished in first place. The women took third.
In the national tournament, UCF teams competed against 15 other universities, including Penn State University, Florida State University, West Texas A&M University, California State University at Fresno, and Arizona State University.
This year the team raised $40,000 on its own for travel and other expenses, with help from the UCF Bowling Club and Aloma Bowling Centers of Central Florida, including the Boardwalk Bowl, which donate bowling lanes for the team to practice.
The team had no Student Government Association funding this year, but was given $1,000 in 2002 and hopes for funding next year, said Assistant Coach Lynn Carpenter.
Carpenter teaches a bowling class at UCF; she started the team in 2001 with junior Matt Niad. Head Coach Pat Costello, who has been a professional bowler for 30 years and was named one of the top 20 bowlers of the 20th century, coaches both the men’s and women’s teams. She is assisted by men’s coach Bob Schoneman and women’s coaches Carpenter and Jerry McDonald.
The captain of the men’s team, senior Mike Donahue, 21, said what motivates him to bowl is a love of the game. He wants to bowl professionally some day.
Donahue got involved in bowling by the age of 3. “My mom bought me a bowling ball for my third birthday and took me out to the bowling center, and I enjoyed it and kept on going,” he said. As he grew up, he realized that he could make a career out of bowling. He’s been working at it ever since.
Most of the members of the team have been bowling since they could lift a ball, which is why freshman Stefanie Nation, 19, said with a smile, “Bowling is my second life, and I’ll never get tired of it.” Nation said she decided to study at UCF specifically because of the UCF Bowling Team.
Nation said her parents put her in a bowling league when she was 5 years old. From that point on, bowling has been a part of her life.
Senior Linda Martinez, 22, and freshman Bryan Farley, 18, said their fathers had the greatest influence on their bowling. Martinez’s father managed the Aloma bowling alley. Farley’s dad coached his high school bowling team.
Despite their national-level prowess, members of the team play in obscurity, without recognition from SGA or fellow students. “People don’t know there is a bowling team and when they do [find out] they are kind of surprised,” Farley said.
The captain of the women’s team, Martinez, said that if there is one thing everyone should know, it is this: “Bowling is a sport and we are athletes.”
“What is important to realize is that these kids work hard,” said Carpenter, who wants people to recognize the time and effort that each one of them gives to the sport and their studies.
The bowling season ended with the national tournament. Play will resume next fall; the UCF team will start practicing the week before classes resume.
