By Vanity Delbridge –
As the season continues on, the NJCU women’s bowling team gears up for the grand spectrum of it all, the NCAA National Collegiate Championship. With an impressive overall record of 64-35, they are headed in the right direction under the leadership of two-time National Coach of the Year, Frank Parisi, and assistant coach, Rusty Thomsen, who is too an accomplished bowler.
Despite not being ranked amongst the top ten teams for the first time in history, they have still managed to set records and sweep awards. They swept the weekly conference awards for the first time in 3 years as a NEC associate member.
When asked what was the biggest win of their season, Parisi replied, “Sacred Hart University and University of Maryland Eastern Shore.” They played the number 2 and 6th ranked seeds, in which they came back to pull off a victory after trailing 0-3 against Sacred Heart, finishing 4-3; and after that, they were on a roll, defeating University of Maryland of Eastern Shore 4-1.
As for some of the players who stood out this season, “were a pretty balanced team,” said Parisi.
Sonja Shirak, 18, Early Childhood Education, from Clifton, NJ had her best individual career effort, posting a 191 average and 955 pinfall in five games (188-203-211-186-167) to finish 13th among 126 bowlers. At the Morgan State University James Brown Invitational, she earned Second Team All Tournament Team honors, placing 6th overall of 134 competitors after posting a remarkable 216 average on day two of the competition with 1083 total pinfall.
Shirak stated that her biggest win of the season was when she took first place at the Dover, Delaware tournament. “I was honestly on cloud nine, I knew I had potential to keep up with the girls at these tournaments that we were put in, but when they called my name for first place I was shocked.”
Speaking fondly of her teammates and coaches, “I can honestly say, I have the best coaches in the world; they have this incredible quality to them, that when I am down or they see that I need to talk, they are there within a heartbeat. They see what others can not and sometimes know what is best for me or the team before we or I realize it.”
With the great news surrounding assistant coach Thomsen this past weekend, the girls are definitely going to want to put their best foot forward for the remainder of the season. Thomsen has advanced past the qualifying stage of the 2012 U.S. Open, following Friday mornings Cashers Qualifying Round at the 69th U.S. Open, being held this week at Brunswick Zone Caroliers Lanes.
In his 10th year as NJCU’s assistant coach, he is the only player from the state of New Jersey to reach the round of 24. During the next stage of the tournament, he will bowl each of the final 23 keglers in the field.
As for the rest of the season, they are outside eight teams looking in. They may have had a bit of a shaky road for some of the past couple weeks, but as Coach Parisi said, “that is all in the past now, we have to focus on what is ahead.” He then goes on to speak of his Thomsen, “he is also a very big part of why this program is what it is today and continues to be, along with his expertise that he instills in our team.”
Shirak sees a bright future for the Gothic Knights as well, “our teamwork and dedication will get us extremely far, we click real well and understand what we all are going through; they are there for me constantly and I will definitely be there when they need me, I couldn’t have asked for a better group of girls.” She adds, “With our heart/drive and our coaches’ support, I see nothing but good things to happen in the rest of the season.”
