Rollercoaster in Texas

This past weekend the Bulldogs traveled to Fort Worth, Texas for the 2025 Intercollegiate Singles and Team Qualifiers. The events started on Friday morning with the singles qualifier. 191 players took to the lanes vying for the six qualifying spots available. The Bulldogs were led by an impressive first performance from freshman, Bryce Nakunz who finished 21st in the qualifier at 1331 (222 avg). Grad Student Spencer Norvell made another good run in his last singles qualifier finishing in 30th place with 1291 (215 avg).

The team portion of the weekend began Saturday morning and consisted of 32 baker format games. The Bulldogs entered the qualifier ranked 29th in the nation, their highest ranking in the past 10 years. After a slow start, the Dogs found themselves sitting in 11th place, 122 pins out of 4th place; the last qualifying position for the National Championships next month in Las Vegas, Nevada. After the lunch break the Bulldogs came out on fire and at the end of the first day of competition, they found themselves sitting in 3rd place, 77 pins within the cut.

On Sunday, we knew we needed to make some adjustments to get off to a better morning block. While some of those adjustments went well, just about everything else went sideways and at the end of the morning block, we found ourselves in 8th place, 372 pins away from 4th.

Undeterred, the Dogs once again got off to a strong start following the lunch break and, with four games to go, they'd made up a lot of ground on the leaders and sat in 5th place. However, the boys were still 141 pins out of the cut and, to make up that amount would require an extremely strong finish. Unfortunately, the hits didn't come and at the end of the day the Bulldogs finished in 7th place.

This event is a special brand of torture and takes just about everything you've got. We know the boys are hurting but, they can't be disappointed with the effort they put forth to the very end.

Equipment in play at the Fort Worth Sectional....

Spencer Norvell- Brunswick Mesmerize, Brunswick Knockout, Hammer Purple Urethane and Columbia Eruption.

Neil Weinstein- Hammer Effect Tour, Hammer Purple Urethane and Brunswick Quantum Evo Response.

Byrce Nakunz- Hammer 3D Offset Assault, Hammer Effect Tour, Hammer Purple Hammer and Brunswick Vaporize.

Zachary Oliver-Davis- Hammer Purple Hammer and Hammer Black 78 Urethane.

Eric Boscacci- Brunswick Mesmerize, Hammer Effect Tour, Hammer Purple Hammer and Brunswick Ethos Pearl

Dominic Ortiz- Brunswick Mesmerize, Hammer Effect Tour and Hammer Purple Hammer.

Once again, great support from our club parents both near and far.......Steven & Tina Norvell, Pamela Norvell (Cookie Grandma), and Mike & Jennifer Nakunz were present pulling for us all weekend, providing pizza's, lunch, snacks, etc. And a big thank you, once again, to the Weinstein family for sponsoring a team dinner.

As always, we couldn’t do this without our sponsors, The Brunswick Corporation, Genesis Bowling and Vise Incorporated.

Go Bulldogs! #bebold

Coach Preble