Muskie Men Wrap Up Regular Season With a Top 20 Finish At The Hoosier Classic

The USBC Collegiate regular season wrapped up in Indianapolis over the weekend as 78 of the top men's teams from across the nation met at The 57th Hoosier Classic.

The Hoosier Classic is widely considered the crown jewel of college bowling's regular season.

"The competition is intense and the conditions are some of the most difficult teams' see all season", Coach David Jones reflected. "It really tests what your team is made of, and let's teams make on last statement prior to ITC selection show".

Day one started off for the men bright and early Saturday morning with 5 team games. In game one the Muskies struggled to get all 5 bowlers on track posting an opening game score of 956 landing in 23^rd place.

"What looked like a good start took a quick turn in the 7^th and 8^th when we caught several splits and executed poorly", said Jones.

The struggles only amplified in game 2 as the Muskies found themselves in 57^th place at -183 heading into game 3. That's when everything changed.

The Muskies moved lanes from the middle of the house all the way to lanes 77-78. Junior Talon Newton got things started with a 217, Senior John Jacobs added a 200, Sophomore Alex Smith finished with 5 in a row for a 237. Sophomore Caelan Guthrie went clean for a 235, while Junior Jacob Willard got going with a 230. The 1119 game was just what the Muskies needed to get them back into the tournament.

The Muskies continued to perform well over the final 2 games of the day with 1049 and 1061. Willard posted games of 268 and 269 over the last 2 games to lead the Muskies with a 225.8 average on the day. Guthrie (210.8), Smith (204), Newton (194.4), and Jacobs (180.5) positioned the Muskies in 18^th at the end of day one.

"We got off to a rough start with a series of untimely splits, but our execution early wasn't good. When we jumped to the high-end Brody (Wildenmann) rallied the team", Jones said. "He showed great senior leadership. He didn't have a look at all day, but his voice was definitely a factor. It's not always what you do on the lanes, but what you can add when you're not in the lineup".

On Sunday the field was greeted with the most demanding oil pattern of the season, a 35 foot flat 1 to 1.

"The tournament director even wrote a note on the pattern sheet that said any team that could average 200 for the day got free sodas". Jones remarked. "In my opinion it was a farewell to urethane pattern".

Senior Brody Wildenmann may not have had a look on Saturday, however Sunday he had the teams best look as he anchored the team for the entirety of the 15 baker games.

The team started off the day with a 202 game one, which proved to be a very solid game as the field struggled to put up consistent scores.

"On patterns this difficult, spares are paramount and it was a challenge. We could have executed better and showed us exactly what we need to improve on for ITC sectionals", coach Jones said of his team.

After the first 5-game block the Muskies dropped to 23^rd. Senior Drew Johnson and sophomore Jacob Lehn turned in solid performances on Sunday striking on over 50% of their shots.

In the 3^rd and final block the Muskies rallied for a 960 block and jumped up to 19^th only 1 pin behind Milligan University.

The performance at the Hoosier solidified the Muskies standing as a top 20 ranked team in the nation heading into the post season.

Now the Muskies wait to find out which of the 4 ITC Sectional locations they will be assigned to on Wednesday night at 7:00.

The host cities are Pittsburgh, Pa (formerly Allen Park, Mi), Smyrna, Tn, Addison, Il, and Dallas, Tx.

Last year the Muskie men won the Allen Park sectional to advance to their 2^nd consecutive ITC National Championship appearance.