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Bowling Signees Shine at Junior Golds 7/15/2005 INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Vanderbilt’s incoming quintet of bowlers made a strong showing at the prestigious USA Junior Gold Qualifying Tournament which concluded today after five days of competition. Competing in a national field of 429 women, college age and under, future Commodore Michelle Peloquin raised eyebrows by reaching the elite 16-person final round. The Enfield, Conn., native was second in the powerful field through 18 games of the first three days. Karen Grygiel, a three-time New Jersey all-stater from Brick High School, also made an impression, standing 51st after qualifying and making the difficult semi-final cut to the top 62 participants. She finished the semi-finals in 28th position. Tara Kane of Greensburg, Pa., narrowly missed making the semi-final field by a mere 58 pins over the 18 games. She was 83rd in the big field. Colorado State sophomore transfer Mandy Keily of Brighton, Colo., was also within reach of the semi-final cut while Kaitlin Reynolds of Loves Park, Ill., recovered nicely from a slow start to finish just 79 pins behind Keily. All five will be on campus for the start of school next month. “This was a most talented field with incredibly difficult lane conditions,” Vanderbilt Coach John Williamson said. “Casual bowlers may not realize that lanes can be made slicker by the type of oil finish used. These lane conditions would be comparable to golf’s United States Open with extra-fast greens and shaggy rough. The scores posted by our newcomers were impressive and their competitive spirit was very encouraging.” Peloquin had a particularly outstanding tournament. For three days she trailed only two-time defending U.S. Junior Amateur champion Stephanie Nation, a senior at Central Florida University. She emerged from among 62 semi-finalists despite not enjoying her sharpest day to make the coveted finals. Peloquin’s performance during the three days of qualifying won her the 2005 USBC Pepsi Youth Bowling Championship scratch title. She averaged 197 over the treacherous lanes for those 18 games. Peloquin, among the youngest members of the finals field, failed to qualify in the match play finals for the Junior Team USA, which selected eight of the 16 finalists. She has five perfect 300 games in her career and graduated as valedictorian in a class of 304 from Enfield’s Enrico Fermi High School this spring. |
