SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Entering the busiest portion of their schedule, the Ashford University men's bowling team returned to action last weekend, Jan. 21-22, when it visited Chippewa Bowl in South Bend, Ind. to compete in the 2012 Blue and Gold Classic hosted by the University of Notre Dame. AU finished 32nd in the 66-team field and third among the Midwest Collegiate Conference teams competing.
Lindenwood University won the event by posting a final team score of 10,005 to defeat the second place team from Saginaw Valley State University by just four pins. Robert Morris University-Illinois took third while Morehead State University and Wichita State University rounded out the top five.
Unlike last weekend's baker-scoring competition, the Blue and Gold Classic was scored based on nine individual games from a team of five players.
Davenport, Iowa sophomore Shane Schaefer finished as Ashford's top individual in the two-day event as he recorded a 41st place finish with a total score of 1894 (210.4 average). The local bowler tallied a high-game of 267 in his third game while backing it up with a 248 in game four to finish among the top-50 individuals.
Another sophomore, Troy Behning, took 80th place among the 436 bowlers by knocking down 1810 pins (201.1 average). The Seneca, Ill.-native highlighted his nine games of action by tossing a 246 in the seventh game to add to scores of 241, 224 and 220 in previous games to allow the Saints to put two bowlers in the top-100.
Two other Saints participated in all nine games. Morris, Ill.-native Jake Waldron scored a 117th place finish by rolling to a 1686 total (187.3 average) while Zach Huff registered a nine-game total of 1611 (179.0 average) to finish 143rd.
Brandyn Andelbradt (1380, 197.1 average) and Ryan Lakota (316, 158.0 average) also competed in the event.
Saginaw Valley State's Aaron Lorincz earned medalist honors after play ended in the two-day event with a total pinfall count of 2146 (238.4 average) to defeat a pair of players from Robert Morris University-Illinois by four and seven pins, respectively.
AU visits La Crosse, Wis. this coming weekend, Jan. 28-29, to compete in the Viterbo V-Hawk Invitational.
