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Page 14 | Thursday, March 3, 2011 | THE BOWLING NEWS
A Star in the Making
There is a young budding
star in Salina, KS, by the name
Ryan Franzen. He is the owner
of three 800’s and three 300
games, and guess what, he’s
only 13 years old!
He’s been bowling since
he was three years-old so he
already has a ton of experience.
His mother Nancy was
the Youth Director at All-Star
Lanes in Salina, and figures
the fact that she was always
at the bowl probably had
something to do with his quick
improvement. “His dad and I
both bowl, along with his two
brothers and older sister. He
bowls in three leagues and
probably practices another 20-
30 games a week,” said proud
mom, Nancy.
As for when the light went
off and the young Franzen
decided that bowling was for
him, “about three years ago, I
had been bowling really well
and decided that I wanted to
do this my entire life, and I
haven’t stopped since,” he said.
At the age of 12, which was
just last year, he became the
youngest bowler in the state of
Kansas to shoot an 800 series,
and last month he shot 834 at
All Star Lanes in Salina, KS.
To say he has improved rapidly
would be an understatement,
but has had some good coaching.
Local bowling icon, Rick
Steelsmith has been coaching
the young left-hander for the
last couple of years, and as his
mother put it “Rick told me
that he is finally getting coachable,
meaning he is listening
and taking his advice.” “Rick
is a really good coach and has
given me lots of things to work
on, like my arm-swing and foot
work,” said Ryan. “Richard
Sims has also been a very good
coach, and has been helping
BOWLING BUFFS…
The Bowlin’ Buffs have been very busy this spring semester; we have
been to the east and west and everywhere in between the last six weeks. The
Blue and Gold Classic in South Bend IN is where we will start, one of the oldest
tournaments in the country, WT made the long trip and finished a respectable
15th for both the men and women out of 60 teams that participated. Wendy
Shelton from Albuquerque, NM led all WT women in averages and Taylor
Coggins from Burleson, TX led all WT men in averages with a 204 average.
West Texas A&M University
BOWLING
Just getting back from South Bend, we turn around and head to Las Vegas for the Rebel Classic. The teams
bowled much better as both finished in the top 5. The women finished 3rd, while the men finished 5th. Kate
Mulcahy from New Hampshire and Nicollette Yurich from Oklahoma City led WT women in averages with a 206
average. Both Kate and Nicollette made all-tournament team. Aaron Johnston from Ft. Smith, AR led WT men in
averages with a nice 220 average, he also placed 4th on the all-tournament team.
With the confidence of the top 5 finish in a Tier I tournament, WT headed to Ft. Worth to bowl at Cowtown
Bowling Palace for the SWIBC Championships. WT did not disappoint, with a 1st place finish for the women and
a 2nd place finish for the men. Hannah Stedman from Albuquerque, NM led WT women in averages with a 216
average. And for the men, we had Jimmy Ewell from Austin, TX lead all WT men with a 234 average and Taylor
Coggins right behind his teammate with a 223 average, both making all-tournament team. At the conclusion of
the Championship tournament, the All-Conference awards were handed out. West Texas Men and Women were
overall Conference Champions, with Jimmy Ewell making the All-Conference team and WT’s Hannah Stedman was
Bowler of the Year in the SWIBC Conference.
Without having time to enjoy our conference titles, we were off to Indianapolis, IN to bowl in the Hoosier
Classic. Perhaps the biggest collegiate tournament in the country with 80 of the best teams entered, this will
be a true test of WT’s talents. This is the last regular tournament before we start our Sectional and National
tournaments, so a good finish in the Hoosier will give us the confidence we need going into the last part of the
season. Out of 80 teams, WT finished 13th for the men and 18th for the women. With Jimmy Ewell leading WT
men with a 210 average and barely missing the All-tournament
team by 5 pins. Leading the WT women was Hannah Stedman
with a 183 average.
We now have 3 weeks before WT heads to Euless, TX to
bowl in the West Sectional where we will need to finish in the
top 4 to qualify to go to Nationals in Columbus, GA. Between
now and then you will see all of our players at the lanes
practicing and getting their games sharp for this important
tournament. Until next time…
Mark Scroggins, WT Head Coach
me forever, especially when I
get lost and need help on the
lanes.” Even though it doesn’t
seem that he gets lost very
often.
Ryan and he good friend
Zach Sims are regulars in the
KCO Youth Scholarship tournaments
that are held at different
centers in Kansas and Missouri,
and both have seen good
success. So if you think he’s
been bowling good so far, it’s
most likely only going to get
better from here. The family
has decided that the time is
right for Ryan to step out of the
small pond and bowl against
the big boys. He’s scheduled
to bowl the SW PBA Regional
in Junction City, KS on April
30th. It will be interesting to
see how he fares against the
strong competition of a professional
event.
West Texas A&M University
Office of Recreational Sports
WTAMU Box 60825
Canyon, TX 79016-0001
Mark Scroggins
Collegiate Bowling Coach
mscroggins@wtamu.edu
(806) 651-2334
Ryan Franzen
“I like having fun when
I bowl and the competitive
people I bowl with. It’s in my
blood. I love it so much that I
don’t want to play any other
sports,” he said.
As for who his favorite
bowler is, well that’s an easy
one, Parker Bohn III, “he has
been good for so long, and I
want to be just like.”
Ryan Franzen, you are on
your way.
High school events will be
shown live on BOWL.com
ARLINGTON — For the
first time, a regular-season
high school tournament will
be broadcast live from start
to finish on BOWL.com, the
official website of the United
States Bowling Congress.
The 2011 Star City High
School Open, features top
teams from the Midwest, and
will take place March 19-20 at
Sun Valley Lanes in Lincoln,
Neb.
Coverage of the event will
begin at 1 p.m. Eastern on
March 19 with two squads of
qualifying. The top half will
advance to double-elimination
match play featuring best-offive
Baker matches, which will
begin at 9 a.m. on March 20.
The North Pointe Insurance
Group $100,000 High School
Singles Championship
Tournament on July 15- 17 also
has been added to the BOWL.
com live streaming schedule.
“The growth of high school
bowling is a great story for our
sport and we need to continue
increasing its exposure,”
International Bowling Campus
Director of Youth Chad Murphy
said. “Online video is a great
way to spread awareness
and get more young people
interested in high school
bowling.”
BOWL.com has provided
coverage of three USBC
Collegiate events this season
and will wrap up regular-
season coverage on Feb. 19-20
at the Backhaul Direct Hoosier
Classic in Indianapolis.
At West Texas A&M
Johnston
jams 722,
Shelton
sacks 622
CANYON, TX – Aaron Johnston
herded his way to the top of
the West Texas A&M leaderboard
in the Joe Dickerson Memorial
league by shooting 239-226-257
= 722.
Wendy Shelton led the ladies
with a tidy little 196-221-205 =
622 series in the same league.
HONOR ROLL
Danny Smith 233-600, TJ Gaudette
235-666, Bryan Crabtree 265-656,
Billy Dedek 253-640, Laurie Crabtree
216-592, Nicollette Yurich 208-593,
Wendy Shelton 206-564.
Sponsored by
Bowling Novelties at
bowlinggift.com
The A&M’s finished strong
at SWIBC Championship
The SWIBC Conference
Championships held at
Cowtown Bowling Palace the
weekend of February 12 & 13
were dominated by the schools
in the A&M family. The Lady
Buffalo’s of West Texas A&M
in Canyon, TX defeated the
Texas A&M Aggies of College
Station, TX in the final Baker
match 3-0. In the semi-final
match Texas A&M defeated
LSU, and Our Lady of the Lake
University by being the first
team to win 3 Baker games
for the right to play top-seeded
West Texas A&M for the title.
WTAMU dominated the final
match averaging over 240 to
win their fourth conference
title of the year.
On the men’s side, the
reverse happened. Texas A&M
defeated West Texas A&M
3-2 to win the Conference
Championship. Texas A&M
earned their shot at the title
by defeating the University of
Houston and UNT in the semifinal
match. The final match
went the distance as WTAMU
jumped out to a 2-game lead,
only to watch Texas A&M
come storming back with the
straight wins, topped off with
a 279-211 beating for the title.
This marked Texas A&M’s first
conference title of the year.
The Texas A&M men’s team, from left, Michael Cook, Justin
Blackshear, Gregory Cook, Drew Johnson, and Stephen Melnyk.
The Lady Buffalo’s of West Texas A&M, from left, Kymberli Shinault,
Nicollette Yurich, Dianna Barkett, Wendy Shelton, Hannah Steadman,
Brittany Lasaak, Katelynn Mulcahy, and Christa Harvey.
DALLAS USBC YOUTH
Continued from Page 13
Angela Carrington 133-353, Riley
Farrell 125-331, Cheyenne Hancock
118-303, Justin Eans 163-289, Morgan
Dixon 113-192.
At Rowlett Bowl-a-Rama – Jarrett
Fields(2 game) 168-332, Jennifer
Works(2 game) 78-154.
⌧ ⌧ ⌧
FORT WORTH YOUTH
Continued from Page 13
405,Chris Mancuso 192-451, Monica
Gehring 143-395, Alex Scotch 169-448,
Kaitlyn George 120-348, Thomas Lopez
178-443, Julia Fugitt 81-207.
At AMF Spare Time – Grason
Walker 98-289, Charisse Graham
76-150, Kelcie Crunk 118-293, Jacob
Bradford 171, Cathyrn Elliott 77-216,
Kody Bluford 446