The Warriors are underway with the start of the new season here at Webber! The program here at Webber, though we are still a young program, keeps growing more and more each year. With this being the 7th season for the program, there are many accomplishments the team has earned over the past 6 seasons. For those of you who do not know about our program, here's some of our history!
The Webber Collegiate Bowling Program has been around for seven years. Yes we are a young team, but that hasn't stood in our way. We train at Kegel Training Center in Babson Park, Fl. The training center has provided the team with all the knowledge and training needed to be successful on and off the lanes. John Davis, who sadly passed on over a year and a half ago, enjoyed seeing the bowlers learn and grow each day. The team has been thankful for the continuous sponsorship from Ebonite, Dexter, Turbo, and with the help of Boom Apparel.
The inaugural year of the Webber Women's Bowling Team, 2009-2010,was the same year for the team of six women and Coach Randy Stoughton to win the Intercollegiate National Team Championship! This was astounding for the team being less than the maximum amount of players on the team (which is 8), with the team being in their first year, and with one of the players, who anchored the team on national television, had a major injury during the entire week at the ITC Nationals. The team made collegiate bowling history with this victory! Another amazing event was the Webber Men's Bowling Team shot the first baker 300 at the ITC Sectionals! The team fought together and stayed patient and present through each frame to have 12 in a row!
Over the next year, the team went through and dominated at many tournaments, both tier-1 and tier-2 tournaments, across the country. The Webber Men make it to the ITC Nationals televised match against Fresno State in 2011. The match was a battle and resulted in the Webber Men taking back to Babson Park, FL 2nd place.
However the next year, the Webber Men and Women went back with determination. In 2012, the Women move their way undefeated through through the bracket baker matchplay to make it to the ITC National televised show against Midland University. As the Webber Women bowled, they gave it their all each shot and won the ITC Nationals again, giving 4 of the 6 players from the inaugural Webber Women's Team a 2nd ITC National Championship victory! The men however, had a long battle during matchplay. Before the decision was final of which teams made the televised show, the men had a long match against Lindenwood Men's Bowling Team, going down to the last frames of the 7th baker game. In the end, through all the anticipation, the Webber Men, coached by Coach Del Warren, beat Lindenwood to make the televised show again against Wichita Men! The televised show was not an easy task. The first game went to Webber, but the second game led to a tie. The third game came down to the last frame, which in the end made the Webber Men winning their first ITC Nationals Championship! 2012 was the year where Webber Men and Women both win the ITC National Championship, being the 3rd team in bowling collegiate history for both teams to win the same year! The Men and Women felt overjoyed and tears of happiness from their hard work, dedication, and friendship that they would never forget from that moment! Click on the links below to watch the exciting matches of both the Webber Men and Women winning the 2012 ITC National Championship!
The next year, 2013, Webber Women win the NAIA National Championship and the Webber Men bring home 3rd from the ITC Nationals.
In 2014, the Men and Women of Webber continue to dominate tournaments in the regular season. During the post season, the Women bring home 3rd from the Hoosier Classic in Indianapolis while the Men win the Hoosier Classic for the second time! The Women go on to dominate at sectionals at having the highest 64 game baker set in the country for all the sectionals! Both the Men and Women win the sectionals in Allentown, PA. Next stop is NAIA National Championship, where the Men move their way through the baker bracket to bring home 3rd for NAIA. The Women immediately go into the loser bracket during the first baker match. Now the Women have to make a choice; to keep fighting and make the final match through the loser bracket or to give up and lose again. The women decided to keep fighting together to make it to the final baker match! They beat Robert Morris University twice in the final baker match to win back-to-back NAIA National Championship! Even though ITC Nationals did not go as planned for both the Men and Women, the ISC Nationals was not over yet. With three Webber men and one Webber woman in the ISC Nationals, one Webber man, Nate Rinelli (a freshman), and one Webber woman, Diana Zavjalova (a senior), make it to the final four televised matches. Nate finishes 4th and Diana bowls her way through to average 289.5 for two games; 289 game one and 290 game two to become the ISC Women's Champion her senior year!
2014 NAIA National Championship
Nate Rinelli 4th at 2014 ISC National Diana Zavjalova Champion at 2014 ISC Nationals
Webber has made history, through the victories and the defeats. Our team is about one thing; Webber Way. The Webber Way is:
- Patience and Presence
- Constant Learning
- Striving for Excellence
Through all of the amazing events, the attitude, persona, vibe, and culture has always been about Webber Way. The bowlers part of the program practice the Webber Way in not just the victories, but also the failures and losses; in the classroom and outside tournaments; in everyday life. The Webber Warriors care about the bowlers in the program and also the program's culture, name, and image. We live and breathe it. Continue to follow this blog to keep up with the success of the Webber Warriors this season, to learn more about our program, and to also learn more about the sport that has brought us all together in the first place; Bowling.
Also, thanks to Columbia 300, we have some new bowling bags to use throughout the year! These new bags are three ball rollers and include a shoe bag that attaches to the top of the entire bag with two compartments for shoes and accessories. The bags are easy to hold onto and are especially reliable when traveling for tournaments through the airline companies. To the left is a picture of the new bowling bags for Webber Warriors thanks to Columbia 300!
