The Striking Lady Knights rocked the competition this past weekend. Our ladies claimed 6 of the top 10 singles spots with Kristie A. Petravich, Brigette Harrelson, Danielle Corrao placing 1st, 2nd, and 3rd. In the team event, the Lady Knights placed 1st with a 12,788 (902 pins ahead of second place Bellarmine). Not only did they win their section, they had the highest pinfall of all women’s teams in the country.
2009 Sectionals Final Results
March 18th, 2009Sectionals Team Results - Day 1
March 14th, 2009The Striking Knights bowled 32 baker games today at Holiday Bowl in Chattanooga, TN. The Men’s team is currently in 7th place with 6,262 pins, a mere 128 pins out of second. The Women’s team is currently in first place with 6,430 pins, 281 pins ahead of the pack. Bowling concludes on Sunday with another 32 baker games. The top 4 finishing teams in Men’s and Women’s move on to Nationals.
Striking Knights Summer Camp 2009
March 6th, 2009The UCF Striking Knights will be hosting two camps again this summer. The first will be June 26-28, the second August 6-8. For more information, click HERE to view or download the PDF brochure.
End of Regular Season
March 4th, 2009This season is almost over having finished the last regular tournament last weekend in Indianapolis, IN. The women finished 1st and are undefeated this year! http://www.bowl.com/articleView.aspx?i=15272&f=3 The men finished 17th. Both teams are working hard and getting ready for the Sectional Qualifiers in Chattanooga, TN next weekend. The top 4 men’s and women’s teams will qualify for the Intercollegiate Team Championships to be held in Rockford, IL in April. The top 4 individual men and women will also qualify for the Singles Championships in May. For more information on the teams’ results this year go to www.bowl.com/college and www.collegebowling.com.
Sports Club of the Month
November 18th, 2008Exciting news!
The bowling club has been named sports club of the month at UCF! Full story here http://www.sportclubs.ucf.edu/ .
Other updates: The women’s team has come in first all 3 tournaments this year and the men’s team has won two of their three tournaments! Full tournament results coming soon in the Tournament Results section! New links posted in the links section!
Here is a picture with the checks as both men’s and women’s teams took first in Marietta, GA, November 1-2. GO UCF KNIGHTS!
2008 - 2009 Season Update
October 20th, 2008The Striking Knights Bowling Team is off to a roaring start!!! Both the Men & Womens team competed in the 38th Midwest Hammer Collegiate Tournament where the ladies finished first and the men finished 3rd. The second tournament of the year showed that they are not letting up slack and are out to take the country by surprise with both teams winning at the Brunswick Orlando Central Florida Shootout. The team is taking the time in between tournaments to prepare for the Brunswick Southern Classic which is held in Atlanta, Georgia November 1 & 2. Best of luck to all the bowlers competing this year!!!
~Brigette Harrelson, Women’s Team Captain
Bowling makes the campus news again
November 7th, 2007The Central Florida Future published a story on our own Stefanie Nation and the bowling program. Read it here
UCF women’s bowlers seeking varsity status
April 26th, 2006By Kyle Hightower
Orlando Sentinel Staff Writer
Pat Costello is in the USBC Hall of Fame for her performances on the lanes. She’d rather be remembered, though, for something she is trying to get accomplished in a meeting room.
The UCF women’s club bowling team, of which Costello is the coach, could clear a big hurdle today in its attempt to achieve varsity status. The UCF Athletics Association meets today, and among its agenda items is a proposal for bowling to become a recognized NCAA sport.
The UCF Student Government Association has passed a resolution in support of it. All that is missing is the support of the athletic association.
This academic year there are 46 colleges bowling under NCAA auspices, including two in Florida — Bethune-Cookman and Florida A&M.
The push for varsity status is not a new endeavor at UCF. Women’s club founder and UCF faculty advisor Lynn Carpenter has worked closely with Costello since the men’s and women’s clubs started five years ago. Costello said they thought they were close to getting recognition under former AD Steve Sloan. But when Sloan left in 2002 for the Tennessee-Chattanooga, everything stalled.
With steadily growing interest locally and nationally, they are hoping this time will be different.
“It takes a lot of time and energy to do it right,” Costello said. “This is something that can really be a boost to UCF’s athletic profile, and I think the athletic department sees that.”
Figures from various sources — including the NCAA’s “Achieving Gender Equity Manual,” the United States Bowling Congress and state high school athletic associations — show that there are more than 16,000 female participants at 1,494 high schools in the United States that offer female varsity bowling.
That popularity is spilling over into the college ranks. Even though the school only has a club program, Costello receives inquiries from high schoolers about bowling for UCF.
From an institutional standout, probably the biggest plus for UCF would be in the area of Title IX compliance. The NCAA recognizes women’s bowling as an equivalency sport, which puts a limit on the value of financial aid that can be offered. According to NCAA bylaws, women’s bowling has an equivalency value of five, which permits an institution to grant five full-amount scholarships for an academic year.
These grant-in-aid awards can be given as five full individual scholarships or may be distributed among team members. A standard college team uses five players per match, with a traveling squad of up to eight players.
The USBC, the national governing body for bowling as recognized by the U.S. Olympic Committee, maintains three separate figure sets on what it would cost a university to field a bowling program: low-end, mid-range and high-end. Not counting scholarships but factoring in competition fees, lodging, transportation, meals, practice, equipment and uniforms, a low-end program has an estimated price tag of $17,450, a mid-range $38,150 and a high-end $64,410.
Costello estimates that a championship-caliber NCAA program would cost around $200,000 a year to operate.
Outoing UCF AD Steve Orsini said last week that the school is approaching the process cautiously.
“It’s still something I haven’t signed off on yet,” he said. “We just don’t want to do it; we want to do it right.”
The USBC Intercollegiate Championships are this week in Rockford, Ill.; they are open to NCAA schools, club teams and junior-college teams. The UCF men’s and women’s club teams have qualified, and in the final women’s poll, UCF was ranked No. 3 in the nation.
Official participation numbers weren’t kept until the formation of the USBC in 2005. But schools started giving women’s bowling programs varsity status as early as 1997 when Nebraska gave its team recognition. But it wasn’t until 2003, when Fairleigh Dickinson became the 40th institution with a varsity team, that women’s bowling was elevated to championship status in the eyes of the NCAA. The first women’s NCAA bowling championship was held the next year. At the USBC national convention held at the Orlando Convention Center last week, several prominent female bowlers were on hand to honor this year’s Hall of Fame inductees.
“I see it all as an opportunity for not only women’s collegiate bowling but for women’s collegiate sports overall, ” said Virginia Norton, 53, a Hall of Famer who has been around the sport for more than 40 years. “Now starting at the high school level, the kids are looking up to something they can get involved in. That’s a big step.”
That is what Costello wants to see fostered at UCF.
“Some schools won’t give it [bowling] the time of day,” she said. “UCF has, and we are thankful for that. But this is a crucial time for us. All we can do is dot the I’s and cross the T’s.”
Roto Grip Keystone Quaker Classic
January 11th, 2006ROTO GRIP KEYTONE QUAKER CLASSIC
STRIKING LADY KNIGHTS
MAKE HISTORY
WIN BACK to BACK…
Tier 1 Tournaments
Orlando, Fl. – Brigette Harrelson, Freshman from Homestead, Fla., and Stefanie Nation, Senior from Miami, Fl. lead the Striking Lady Knights to their Second Victory in a row over the holiday break.
“I’m so excited, we bowled great today as a team. Everyone was there to pick you up if you had an open frame”, said Brigette. “We bowled much better today than yesterday. We are a great Baker bowling team and that’s what the National Championship is ALL BAKER GAMES. I’m so proud of my teammates”, said Stefanie.
The ladies also placed in the individual All Tournament Team standing with Brigette Harrelson finishing in 3rd Place averaging 195.2 , and Stefanie Nation finishing in 5th place averaging 194.6. the other members of the team are: Jill Pavlak, Sophomore from Clearwater, Fl., Tara Nesseralla, Sophomore from Orlando, Fl., Kayla Lehmann, Senior from Sanford, Fl., Michelle Erler, Senior from Tavares, Fl. and Sara Bibbens, Freshman from Rochester NY.
Coming off their first tier 1 tournament victory the ladies came out strong. The Striking Lady Knights finished day one with only a 6 pin lead. The second day of this tournament consisted of 20 baker games.
The Lady Knights took to the lanes with a vengeance with 830 for the first set of 4 baker games. With 4 sets remaining they increased their lead after each set. Winning the tournament by 101 pins over Morehead State University.
Stefanie Nation and Brigette Harrelson continue to make their names known and put themselves in the race for Collegiate Bowler of the Year and Rookie of the Year honors.
In addition to the Striking Lady Knights, other colleges competing include Morehead State University, Penn State, Shippensburg University, McKendree, University of Kansas, Indiana University, Newman University, Florida State, Erie Community College, Hudson Valley Community College, Robert Morris University, Mohawk Valley Community College, Michigan State, Virginia Tech, and Dutchess Community College.
The competition schedule for the remainder of the season: January - Lightning Classic, Tampa, Fl., Brunswick Coca Cola Invitational, Las Vegas, NV., February - Hoosier Classic, Indianapolis, IN, Central Florida Shoot-Out, Orlando, Fl., March - IBC Sectionals and April the IBC National Championships, Rockford, IL.
19th Annual Collegiate Invitational
January 6th, 2006UCF WOMEN MAKE HISTORY
In the 19th Annual Collegiate Invitational
Orlando, Fl. – Stefanie Nation, Senior from Miami, Fla., the current 3-time U.S. Junior Amateur Champion, led the UCF Women’s Bowling Team to its first Tier 1 tournament 1st place victory.
“Finally! It’s about time! It’s a relief for Kayla and me and now we can take it all the way to the National Championship” said Stefanie.
The ladies also lead the individual All Tournament Team standing with Stefanie Nation in 1st Place averaging 202.2 , Michelle Carcagente, Sophomore from Deland, Fl. in 2nd Place averaging 202 and Brigette Harrelson, Freshman from Homestead, Fl. in 3rd Place averaging 192, the other ladies competing were: Jill Pavlak, Sophomore from Clearwater, Fl., Tara Nesseralla, Sophomore from Orlando, Fl., Kayla Lehmann, Senior from Sanford, Fl., Michelle Erler, Senior from Tavares, Fl. and Sara Bibbens, Freshman from Rochester NY.
Leading by 309 pins after the first day, the ladies came out strong on the second day with games to 1054, 1026 and 917 games. The Striking Lady Knights finished the two-day, nine-game event 572 pins ahead of their nearest competitor with 8552. Morehead University finished second with 7980 and Penn State finished third with 7678.
After the All Tournament Team First Place finish Stefanie Nation has put herself in the Collegiate Bowler of the Year race as well as the Collegiate All American Team. Freshman, Brigette Harrelson is now in the race for Collegiate Rookie of the Year honors with another great tournament finish.
In addition to the Striking Lady Knights, other colleges competing include Morehead State University, Penn State, Shippensburg University, McKendree, University of Kansas, Indiana University, Newman University, Florida State, Erie Community College, Hudson Valley Community College, Robert Morris University, Mohawk Valley Community College, Michigan State, Virginia Tech, Dutchess Community College.
The competition schedule for the remainder of the season: January - Lightning Classic, Tampa, Fl., Brunswick Coca Cola Invitational, Las Vegas, NV., February - Hoosier Classic, Indianapolis, IN, Central Florida Shoot-Out, Orlando, Fl., March - IBC Sectionals and April the IBC National Championships, Rockford, IL.
