Hawkeye Bowling Competes at Morningside Invite

Over the weekend, the RedTails traveled to the Morningside Invite 1 & 2 on Saturday and Sunday, where each day was a different tournament. Starting things off on Saturday, the format was just a straight five traditional team games. Topping the RedTails for the women's team was Callie Smedley for the women who finished 31st out of 97 competitors, averaging 153.2 for her five games, followed by Alex McPherson, who was right behind in 37th place, averaging 150.2. For the men, it was Ryder Fleming who was our top performer once again with a 187 average, placing 23rd out of 112 players. Chris Fordyce wasn't too far behind, ending up in 33rd with a 178 average. In the team standings, both of the RedTail squads struggled to find a groove on the challenging lane conditions and found themselves towards the bottom. 

 

On Sunday came a new day, a new tournament, and a newfound focus after Saturday's performance. Sunday's lane conditions seem to favor our strengths a little more, and the RedTails all started fairly hot. The format for this tournament was one traditional team game and 20 baker games, in which we had two men in the top 10 with that one game. Chris Fordyce had the highest individual game with 248, while Ryder had 223 and found himself in 7th. The RedTail ladies were all pretty close and consistent with each other, as Samie Camilo had a 165 for 19th, Alex McPherson a 158 for 27th, and Callie Smedley scored a 144 for 42nd. It was fun to watch as the RedTails had their newfound focus and had more conviction within their shot-making, walking out shots they knew were good, and the cheering level matched their scoring pace, things were looking up as both teams started towards the top. However, the scoring pace changed, and the conditions transitioned to make things quite the challenge for the RedTails, and the final tally put them in 8th place for the men and 10th place for the women.

 

Overall, it was a learning weekend, and we will take what we can and move on. We will go into the Winter break to recharge and gear back up in January as we will hit the ground running with a series of four events straight in four back-to-back weekends, starting with a trip to Addison, Illinois. Our second half will be jam-packed, but we will march forward and push through as we go into our postseason at the beginning of March and try to bring home another national championship.