March 14, 2008
Live Stats *Last updated 3/16/08 at 4:45 p.m. CT
SMYRNA, Tenn. — A field that includes the defending tournament champion, the reigning NCAA champion and the newly crowed East Coast Athletic Conference champion are among the 22 NCAA bowling teams scheduled to compete in this weekend’s Columbia 300 Music City Classic.
Vanderbilt, winner of the 2007 national championship, hosts the event that includes top-ranked and defending Music City champion Nebraska while Sacred Heart, fresh from a big win at the ECAC tournament, is also in the mix along with a Central Missouri team that has enjoyed a strong spring.
“This is our fourth annual tournament and we expect it will be the best yet,” says Coach John Williamson. “We are pleased to see more and more teams choosing to come to the Nashville area. We are one of the last major events before the NCAA Championship next month so some teams are trying to finish their year strong, some are hoping to make a case to be among the eight heading to Omaha (site of the NCAA Championship) and the top teams are trying to polish their games.”
Many of the nation’s top individuals will be bowling, including Vanderbilt’s Michelle Peloquin and Josie Earnest and Central Missouri’s Bryanna Caldwell, all of whom were in the top seven here last year. Nebraska’s Cassie Leuthold and Lindsay Baker of Nebraska will also be among the favorites.
There will be six team matches on Saturday and six, four-set Baker games Sunday. With 10 Central region teams and 12 Northeast regions squads, the Central region will play each one of the Northeast teams and then bowl one more game Sunday against another Central opponent.
The Columbia 300 Music City Classic is held on Vanderbilt’s home lanes, the state-of-the-art Smyrna Bowling Center. Admission to the two day event is free of charge with Saturday’s play starting at noon and Sunday’s competition beginning at 8:30 a.m.
Vanderbilt finished third here a year ago behind Nebraska and Central Missouri before winning the NCAA title in April. It has never won on its home lanes.
“That is not unusual in collegiate bowling,” Williamson says. “It would seem that the host team at a tournament has a distinct advantage but for whatever reasons it doesn’t often work out that way.”
2008 Columbia 300 Music City Classic field (region)
Adelphi (NE), Alabama A&M (C), Arkansas State (C), Central Missouri (C), Fairleigh Dickinson (NE), Fayetteville State (NE), Hampton (NE), Jackson State (C), Kutztown (NE), Minnesota State Mankato (C), Morgan State (NE), Nebraska (C), New Jersey City (NE), Norfolk State (NE), North Carolina A&T (NE), North Carolina Central (NE), Sacred Heart (NE), St Francis (NE) South Carolina State (C), Southern (C), Wisconsin Whitewater (C), Vanderbilt (C)