Russell takes seventh, Blazers Bowling season ends at USBC Sectionals

SMYRNA, Tenn. – The 2023-24 Vincennes University bowling season came to an end over the weekend at the United States Bowling Congress Intercollegiate Singles and Team Championship Sectionals hosted at the Smyrna Bowling Center in Tennessee.

VU freshman Cayden Russell (Noblesville, Ind.) led the charge for the Trailblazers at Friday's Singles Championships, finishing with a total of 1,343 pins over six games and just missed the cut to advance to Nationals by only seven pins.

Russell got the weekend off to a great start by finishing all six games with over 200 pins, including a best game of 255 to place seventh out of 171 bowlers competing.

Freshman Dakota Waskom (Louisville, Ky.) was the second VU finisher, ending with a total of 1,210 pins and finishing in 59th place overall.

Freshman Nicholas Gregg (Salem, Ill.) was the next Trailblazer on the leaderboard, placing 65th with a total of 1,203 pins.

Junior Brighton Lucas (Salem, Ill.) and freshman Kannon King (Salem, Ill.) were next in line with Lucas finishing 120th at 1,091 and King using a team-high game of 256 to rocket up the leaderboard to 132nd with a total of 1,058.

Freshmen Dylan Lewis (Louisville, Ky.) and Ethan Ennis (Kokomo, Ind.) rounded out the VU day at the lanes Friday with Lewis ending at 995 in 150th place and Ennis ending at 975 in 156th place overall.

The Trailblazers then came back as a team to compete in the Team Championships, consisting of 64 baker games broken up into four blocks of 16 games each.

The Blazers had a good start to the team portion of the weekend, ending the first block of 16 games with a total of 2,969 pins, five games of 200-plus and were 14th overall on the leaderboard.

Vincennes was very consistent to close out Saturday, scoring 2,916 pins in the second block of games but unfortunately slid on the leaderboard down to 18th overall after the first day of team competition.

VU looked to move up the ranks when the Trailblazer bowling team returned to the lanes Sunday morning for the final 32 baker games.

Block three was not so kind to the Trailblazers, finishing the 16 games with a total of 2,764 pins.

Vincennes bounced back in the fourth block and were able to end the weekend on a high note, coming away with a total of 2,869 pins in the final 16 games to close out the two-day competition with a total of 11,518 pins and an 18th place finish.

While it's not the finish Trailblazer bowling team or Coach Paul LeMond wanted, the 2023-24 VU bowling season was still very successful for such a young team with the Blazers having 10 freshmen on the roster.

VINCENNES RESULTS

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

Cayden Russell (7) – 212, 223, 255, 204, 226, 223 – 1343

Dakota Waskom (59) – 202, 213, 232, 142, 186, 235 – 1210

Nicholas Gregg (65) – 189, 191, 203, 225, 204, 191 – 1203

Brighton Lucas (120) – 171, 119, 181, 233, 185, 202 – 1091

Kannon King (132) – 160, 157, 179, 157, 149, 256 – 1058

Dylan Lewis (150) – 136, 196, 160, 155, 159, 189 – 995

Ethan Ennis (156) – 135, 143, 179, 190, 170, 158 – 975

TEAM RESULTS

Baker Block 1 – 204, 151, 201, 173, 158, 225, 226, 170, 170, 176, 178, 184, 184, 191, 157, 221 – 2,969

Baker Block 2 – 216, 146, 197, 155, 199, 232, 197, 147, 182, 168, 175, 173, 193 ,162, 157, 217 – 2,916

Baker Block 3 – 179, 155, 158, 168, 182, 175, 185, 190, 169, 160, 162, 210, 183, 169, 171, 148 – 2,764

Baker Block 4 – 186, 201, 190, 189, 234, 164, 166, 134, 168, 211, 187, 192, 123, 184, 162, 178 – 2,869.

Tournament total – 11,518.