OC bowlers knock down competition in MI

Oberlin's bowling club struck it big at the Association of College-Unions International regional tournament hosted by the University of Michigan last weekend.

The first women's team to bowl for Oberlin since 1992 captured the championship, while the men's team stayed out of the gutter to take eighth place at the Maplewood Lanes in Saline, MI.

"It was a lot of fun," senior Mike Pinkerton said. Pinkerton ripped up the lanes in what he considered a sub-par performance, as he penciled up the highest Oberlin average of 185 through all nine games. "I was eight pins under my average and had a very disappointing second game," Pinkerton said.

Senior Chris Neese rolled the highest single game with a 226 and sophomore Jon Stoper pinned down the best three-game series with 608.

Though the women's team was the only full team to show up at the tourney and so took first by default. They still toppled down a total of 5642 pins. Junior Annie Kennedy blasted the highest three-game series with a 469 and took the individual high at 176. She and senior Bonnie Solomon both held a 143 average over the nine-game series to lead the team. Sophomore Carol Rubin twice topped her previous personal best single score.

"Annie Kennedy opened up with three or four strikes in her first game," coach Tom Reid, OC '80, said. "The team did real well considering it was their first time out. They're on the way up."

The tournament ran over two days. Both teams played from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, and then from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Sunday. "You get burnt out," Pinkerton said. "It's a long drive, a lot of bowling and a lot of stress. They're really bad about food breaks, too."

The traditional bowler's Saturday night had its effect on Sunday morning. "We were all hung-over," Kennedy said. "Beer and bowling mix." The team toppled wine bottles at Chi-Chi's to celebrate the day's progress. "We were going to go to Canada because it's only a half-hour away, but we were too tired," Kennedy said.

Another highlight of the tournament was the bag of free goodies each bowler received, full of beer Coolies, key chains, and coupons for free Wendy's shakes. The women also were awarded medals for their performance.

The team made quite a splash in their red and butter colored uniforms. "Our uniforms are awesome. We get a lot of attention," Pinkerton said. "Our team is reasonably normal looking, but we still stood out as a bunch of freaks."

Other than a couple of scrimmages with Kent State University or the second-place University of Akron's women's team, Oberlin's bowlers don't see any other tournaments in their near-future. The women's team made it into the National tournament in Omaha, but "We probably won't go," Kennedy said.