FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 10, 2014

CONTACT:
Gordon Vadakin
Phone (316) 978-7655
Fax (316) 978-6056
email - shocker.bowling@wichita.edu
www.wichita.edu/bowling

Guys and Gals Gear Up for Nationals

WICHITA, Kan. – With less than a week until the premier event of the season, the Intercollegiate Team Championships (ITC) in Reno, Nev. on Wednesday 16-18, the men and women Shocker bowling teams are completing their preparation. The Reno-Sparks Convention Center will host the ITC this year.

Teams bowl 24 baker qualifying games before being seeded into a best 4 of 7 match play bracket. All bowling is in baker format and the tournament tends to cause a great deal of excitement within teams.

“Baker truly brings out the best of our players,” head coach Gordon Vadakin said. “A lot of great things have been happening with our players recently. This will be a great opportunity to put our skills to the test.”

Last year, the Lady Shockers dominated qualifying before getting knocked out by Maryland Eastern Shore in the round shortly before the telecast; this time around, the ladies are sure it will be different.

“To say I’m ready would be an understatement,” senior Kelsey Muther said on Facebook. “I’m excited for a week of a lifetime with the best team out there.”

Although the Shocker men had an abrupt end to last season as they did not advance from the sectional tournament, their sectional performance in Fort Worth, Texas less than a month ago foreshadows positive possibilities.

“There is a long break between the last in-season tournament and post-season,” senior Devin Bidwell said. “We put in some high quality work and it really showed up at sectionals. It’s thrilling to see what may happen at nationals.”

There are new faces to the national tournament every year, but it is not often that a returning player did not attend nationals the year before. A few players now have that opportunity.

“Though I’m expecting the tournament to be much different,” sophomore AJ Chapman said. “I think we’ll do really well. We’ve prepared as much as we can.”

Not only have both teams qualified for the ITC, a number of men and women Shockers have qualified for the Intercollegiate Singles Championship (ISC) portion of the week.
Those include: senior Devin Bidwell, junior Francois Lavoie, sophomore Zach Rhoades, senior Allie Ijams, junior Heather Melvin, senior Kelsey Muther, and senior Tannya Roumimper.

The ISC tournament gives players a chance to bring home another national title. In years past, seven Shockers have won the ISC tournament.

Typically, the Shockers travel with a maximum roster of 8 men and women. It’s a different story for nationals. All 11 men and 12 women travel to the ITC to give full support of their teammates during the tournament.

Those traveling for singles leave this weekend and the rest of the team joins Tuesday. Team competition begins Wednesday and it should be an invigorating week.

For more information about the ITC, please visit www.bowl.com/itc.

For more information about Shocker Bowling, please visit our website at www.wichita.edu/bowling.


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The Rhatigan Student Center has been the major financial and administrative supporter of the Wichita State University bowling program since 1959.