Bowling team ranked nationally in pre-season

 

The women’s bowling team is preparing for a big season this year, and it is ranked 17th nationally. This is the first time that the team has been ranked in school history. The bowlers have a strong team that could possibly make a run.

Senior captain Jazmin Bingham, who hails from Chicago, said the team is well prepared and she is excited for the season to begin.

“We have been bowling the past two months,” she said.

“We are ranked number one in the MEAC,” Gina Davis said, a senior from Hampton, Va.

She is a key player for this year’s team, as well as Janell Dykes, sophomore from Ft. Lauderdale.

Katherine Jones, a freshman from North Miami Beach, and Samantha Mighty, a junior from Brooklyn, N.Y., also made significant contributions last season.

“We expect to be in the top ten this year,” Davis said. The team will come into this season with a better attitude than they had last year and it is starting to show.

 Their record was 72-42 last season and they compiled the fifth most wins in the nation. They were Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference South champions last season and they are ranked number one in the MEAC this year.

The team has their first match November 5-7 at the Fairleigh Dickinson Invitational. The tournament will be hosted by Fairleigh Dickinson University and is a 28 team tournament.

The tournament will also feature several top ranked teams. Fairleigh Dickinson won the women’s bowling national championship last season. This tournament will be a good barometer for where the team is and what it is capable of.

The team has its first MEAC Southern Division match here on January 8-9. They won the division last season, so they should do well in this season’s match.

 “We want to win the MEAC South and then take it all the way,” said Janell Dykes, another key member of the team.

Head coach Sheila Martin seemed lighthearted but still serious at practice.

“If they work hard they can accomplish it (national championship),” Martin said. “One lane, one game, one roll,” she said.

The team will have to crack the top eight to get an automatic invitation to the national championships in Detroit April 14-16.