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Michael Davidson, NAIA Rookie of the Year, receives award from NAIA
Coaches
Association President Mike Kubacki.
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Davidson named
NAIA Rookie of the Year
The NAIA Collegiate Bowling regular season came to end this past
weekend in Arlington Heights, Illinois. The regular season ending 2015
Bowlerstore.com NAIA Team Championships was held at Arlington Lanes.
This tournament consisted of the top 20 Men’s and top 20 Women’s Teams
in the country. The format was (24) Baker games on Friday to determine
the top qualifying team as well as the other places for the double
elimination best 3 out of 5 Bake Game Bracket Match Play.
Calumet College of St. Joseph (CCSJ) won the top qualifier spot and
trophy where Freshman Michael Davidson of Versailles bowls for. The
season ending awards banquet was then held at the Lincolnshire
Marriott. “We were asked in December if we would be interested in being
the title sponsor for this year’s event. I jumped at the opportunity. I
felt this was a great way to give back to the bowling community that
has helped Bowlerstore.com become one of the top internet retailers in
the country. With almost 400 collegiate bowlers at this event, I also
felt it would be a great way to introduce our first ever High
Performance bowling ball, Exothermic by our brand Moxy Bowling.” said
owner and CEO, Doug Davidson.
After the presentation of the team top qualifier awards was dinner and
then our guest speaker, Diandra Asbaty. Diandra attended the University
of Nebraska. She was a Member of the 1999 & 2001 National
Championship teams for Nebraska, Three-time All-American, 2001 Women’s
Player of the Year and the 2002 University of Nebraska Student Athlete
of the Year. Her Professional & International Experience includes
being a 15-time member of Team USA, the winner of over 60 medals in
International competition, a 3-time World Bowler of the Year, a Member
of the World Bowling Hall of Fame and the 2012 USBC Queens Champion.
She is also the founder of the International Art of Bowling & the
Elite Youth Bowling Tour. “Most of these collegiate bowlers will not
continue onto the professional bowling ranks, however, many of them
will either continue their education or move into their professional
careers. My goal was to bring in a speaker who could relate to their
collegiate bowling as well as share what competing at this level can do
for them down the road. She also shared her success in the business
world and related it to competitive bowling on how you do not always
win, but it’s what you learn from it and how to take those experiences
for future goals and opportunities you may have,” said Davidson.
The season ending awards were then presented for Academic All-Americans
and the NAIA Bowling Awards. Michael Davidson was presented with the
Academic All-American Award as well as the NAIA Rookie of the Year. “I
was not expecting the Rookie of the Year at all. I was shocked when I
heard my name get called!” said Michael.
“To be able to present the Bowlerstore.com Top Qualifier Award for the
NAIA Team Championships to the CCSJ Men of the tourney we were
sponsoring was a thrill and then to experience this award for Michael
was just awesome. Better yet, 2 of his teammates were recognized as 2nd
Team All-American, Senior Mitch Katic and 1st Team All-American, Junior
Matt Kuba. These upper classmen have really taken Michael under their
wings and have been a major influence on helping Michael improve
immensely at this next level," said Davidson.
The double elimination match play then began on Saturday morning. The
CCSJ Mens earned a bye being the top qualifier. They made it to the
remaining 6 spots come Sunday and were then faced against a tough
opponent, Midland out of Nebraska. This match went back and forth and
went 5 games. Midland ended up defeating CCSJ by 1 pin, 228-227. This
ended their hopes of winning the 2015 Bowlerstore.com Team
Championships.
3 weeks ago the team was in Stratford, New Jersey for the Collegiate
Sectionals to qualify for Nationals in Wichita, KS the week of April
13th. The 1st day of competition was 6 games of singles competition to
qualify for Nationals as an individual. Out of the 142 Men bowlers,
only 5 would qualify for the ITC Singles in Wichita. Michael ended up
finishing in 9th, just 45 pins out of 5th and was the high freshman as
well as the high CCSJ bowler.
The next two days consisted of the team qualifying which consisted of
(32) Baker games each day. The CCJ Men struggled off and on all day and
ended up in 6th, about 75 pins out of the cut. (4 teams would qualify
for Nationals) The coaches put a great game plan together for Sunday on
how to play the lanes and which equipment to use as the day went on.
Calumet made a statement very quick and moved as high as 2nd. They
ended up finishing in the 3rd spot to qualify for Nationals for the 9th
straight season under the 2014 NAIA Coach of the Year, Mike Kubacki.
The XBowling Intercollegiate Team Championships begin Thursday, April
14th at Northrock Lanes in Wichita, KS. All qualifying and match play
will be broadcast live on http://www.bowl.com/bowltv/.
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Doug Davidson, owner and CEO of Bowlerstore.com, shown appreciation for
being a title
sponsor of the season ending awards banquet.
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