Feb. 5, 2017
Close observers of this year’s Vanderbilt bowling team may have noticed that the Commodores appear to compete with a veteran’s resolve despite the fact that the lineup is dominated by freshmen and sophomores. That observation is no mirage.
The program has four members — Emily Rigney (Australia), Kristin Quah (Singapore), Maria Bulanova (Russia) and Giselle Poss (Puerto Rico) – that have been to the far corners of the world competing against the best of the best on national teams.
Rigney is one of four freshmen on the Vandy roster and the daughter of one of Australia’s all-time bowling greats — gold medalist Sharon McLeish.
“I was born into bowling,” says the left-hander from Melbourne. “My parents met through bowling and I was essentially raised in a bowling center. My grandmother was my first coach and it ended with my dad, who coached the national team.”
Rigney worked her way through the ranks, on youth state teams before finally represent the country. On the way she has competed in the exotic cities of Jakarta, Indonesia, Hong Kong, Bangkok and Macau, China.
“Those international tournaments taught me to look at the bigger picture,” she says. “I feel I have a more competitive streak in me because I know the standard that’s out there.”
When Bulanova steps onto the settee with her team needing a strike, few would imagine she is a collegiate rookie. Despite her perceived youth, she is a vastly experienced anchor through her years with the Russian Federation team.
She learned to bowl when she was six, being dropped off for the day at a city camp near her father’s place of work in Moscow. The camp officials quickly realized they had a prodigy on their hands and eventually handed her off to better coaches, which led to Russia’s youth team when she was just 13 and adult team two years later. She has competed throughout Europe and “from Las Vegas to Tokyo.”
While it is natural for many bowlers to fret about being last in the rotation, a spot that can produce the difference between victory and defeat, it is a place Maria feels at home. In fact, she is the first freshman in program history to spend 100 percent of her time in the anchor position. She loves the last shot.
“When I began on the youth team I was the anchor,” she says in her country’s unmistakable accent. “I have always been the anchor. I bowled many games where I needed two strikes to win; this experience helps me right now. Some people come to college and they have to learn to be the anchor.”
Quah is a sophomore after winning NCAA Rookie of the Year honors last season. She is yet another example of the powerful Singapore system that tends to dominate elite women’s bowling. She worked her way through Singapore’s academy program, where everyone learns the techniques demanded by the national coaches.
Like Bulanova, she got promoted at an early age and somewhat reluctantly gave up her roster spot when she came to the United States for college. Kristin has bowled in many nations including Quam, Japan and many Southeast Asian locations. Those experiences have made her a better teammate.
“There are a lot of situations where I feel I’m able to help my teammates more because I experienced it at a younger age,” says the engineering honors student. “I certainly don’t have the answers to everything but I have been there before and am able to tell them they will be all right.”
Poss is the lone senior in the starting lineup and she came to her Puerto Rican team in a different manner than her younger teammates.
“My mother (Eileen) was born in Puerto Rico and that made me eligible for their team,” Giselle says. So while she grew up 40 miles west of Chicago, that explains why she got a try-out invitation from the Puerto Rican coach a few years ago, who had heard about her through Kristie Lopez, a friend and international bowler.
Poss expects to be a bowling “lifer” so the chance to compete internationally was special. Like her teammates, those bruising competitions have helped her game by making her more aware.
“There is more at stake in these big tournaments and the margin of error is often small,” she says. “They made me realize that to get what I want I have to put up really big scores, averaging 205-210 doesn’t get you anything. I learned that whiffing a 10 pin in an international tournament could cost me totally whereas on the youth level the consequences were much less.”
Poss, who won the Kutztown Invitational two weeks ago with a 240 average, apparently put this lesson to practice as after her win Vanderbilt Coach John Williamson pointed out that she had continued to pile up her pin count instead of cruising to victory.
All four Commodores say they look forward to one day getting back in action with their national teams, which offer the high-end competition, travel and friendships with others who share their love of the sport. In the meantime, their national jerseys are proudly on display at Vanderbilt’s campus bowling complex.
