John Williamson has been named Vanderbilt’s 2017-18 Coach of the Year after guiding his bowling team to the 2018 NCAA Bowling Championship. The athletic department’s senior management team determined the award.
The Commodores spent much of the 2017-18 season ranked fourth nationally and went into the eight-team championship field as the No. 4 seed but peaked at precisely the right time.
Using a lineup dominated by underclassmen, Vanderbilt opened the NCAA tourney by defeating Southland Bowling League power Sam Houston State before stunning No. 1 ranked Nebraska in the second round.
When the dust had settled, Vanderbilt faced a matchup with defending champion McKendree on national television. Powered by a steady lineup and the brilliant play of tournament Co-Most Valuable Players Emily Rigney and Katie Stark, the Commodores won the last two games to rally from a 3-2 deficit, take a 4-3 victory and claim the NCAA trophy.
The NCAA Bowling Championship, Vanderbilt Athletics’ fourth national championship overall, was the second for Williamson’s bowling program, which also won the NCAA title in 2007.
Additionally, Commodore bowlers traditionally maintain a cumulative grade point well above 3.0 and finished with a 3.15 GPA in 2018. Junior Kristin Quah garnered the prestigious NCAA Elite 90 award after her 3.95 GPA in electrical and biomedical engineering was determined to be the highest in the championship field.
Quah was named a third team All-American and sophomore Maria Bulanova a second team All-America by the National Ten Pin Coaches Association. Five different Commodores made various all-tournament teams during the regular season.
Williamson, the only coach in the program’s 14-year history, was previously voted the department’s coach of the year in 2006.
