FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 9, 2017

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

WICHITA, Kan. –Eight different Shockers will wear the red, white and blue this year on Team USA and Junior Team USA. The 2017 National Teams were decided this past week at Sunset Station in Henderson, Nev. during the 2017 Team USA Trials.

Over the summer, juniors Sydney Brummett (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Sierra Kanemoto (Dayton, Ohio) bowled their way on to Junior Team USA 2017. On Sunday night, sophomore Brandon Biondo (Carpentersville, Ill.) and soon-to-be Shocker Cortez Schenck (Phoenix, Ariz.) also bowled their way on to Junior Team. The National Selection Committee then added recent Shocker signee Briley Haugh of Faribault, Minn.

“I wanted to prove that I belong, so making Junior Team USA for the second time meant a lot,” Biondo said. “The coaches at WSU really helped improve my mental game; I learned how to stay in the here and now. All week I was pretty care free, trying not to add any pressure to myself.”

At Junior Gold in July of 2016, six members of Junior Team USA 2017 were decided. At Team Trials, the top four youth were automatically named to Junior Team and the National Selection Committee picked two more athletes to the team, for a total of 12. At Team USA Trials, Schenck was second on the youth side, Biondo was third and Haugh was sixth.

On the adult side, the National Selection Committee chose Shocker alums Chris Barnes (’89 – ’92), AJ Chapman (’12 – ’16) and Sean Rash (’00 – ’04) to represent Team USA 2017. The selection committee also chose Brummett to represent Team USA for the first time.

“Standing with the women I have wanted to compete with for years is unbelievable. I knew I had played with heart all week and that’s all I could do. I am thankful the selection committee believed in me enough to pick me,” Brummett said.

At Team Trials, competitors compete on five patterns over five days. Each day, the players in the field earn points based on their finishing positions in each qualifying round. The top bowler of the block earns one ranking point, second place earns two points, etc. At the end of the week, the person with the lowest total amount of ranking points is named the 2017 Team USA Trials Champion, the next lowest second, and so on. The top four with the lowest amount of ranking points automatically make Team USA 2017. The US Amateur Champion also automatically makes Team USA. Then, the National Selection Committee adds players based on their performance at Team USA Trials and their submitted résumés.

With the addition of these Shockers on Team USA, the Shocker Bowling Program has now had 57 players make Team USA or Junior Team USA. Of those 57, 43 have come to Wichita State first.

Team USA and Junior Team USA will represent the United State in various international competitions over the course of 2017.

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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.