Jordan and Thompson power Pride at Clarke Invite on way to conference accolades
DUBUQUE, Iowa - For their annual home event of each season at Cherry Lanes, the Clarke University bowling teams were able to show solid team results as well as earn individual honors from the Heart of America Athletic Conference from the Clarke Invite this past weekend.
Those individual honors went to the Pride's Shane Jordan of the men's team and Stephanie Thompson of the women's team as they placed fifth and 10th respectively on the individual side to receive Heart of America Bowler of the Week each.
Jordan's fifth place finish on the men's side saw him record three of his five games over 200 with a high of 235 in game one to finish with a 1,030-pin total and a 206-pin average better than all but four of the rest of the 90 bowlers in the field.
Thompson was consistently in the 170s for three of her five games with her high breaking the 200-pin barrier to finish with a five-game total of 888 pins to average 177.6 pins for her 10th place finish.
Beyond the award-winning standout performances from Jordan and Thompson, Clarke bowling had a combined four other individuals with standout performances on their home lanes with Harley Redding and Tanner Webb earning eighth and 17th place finishes respectively on the men's side with Kassidy Gerken and Emma Clancy finishing in the top-half of the field on the women's side as well.
Redding, a freshman from Worland, Wyo., produced his eighth place finish with a 199 pins per game average as he produced a team-high 259 in game four with the rest of his scores staying between 171 and 192 over the other four games while Webb bowled a high of 222 in game two finishing with 918-pin total and a 183.6 average.
Gerken earned a 19th place finish with her 157.8-pin average and Clancy finished in 24th at an average of 137.4 as that pair and Thompson were the only members of the Pride squad to bowl all five games while Jennifer Hayakawa had a four-game average of 135.5, Emily Larson bowled three games to a 121.33 average, and Sidney Pawski finished at a 113-pin average over three games as well.
The remaining members of Clarke's varsity squad on the men's side saw Jordan Gorgas average 186 pins in two games, Adante Jones average 178 pins in four games, Mannix Amos average 169 pins in two games, and Zach Reuter average 167.5 pins in two games as the Pride qualified for the bracket portion of the Clarke Invite, falling in three games to Culver-Stockton College to finish in fourth place as a team.
CU's men also produced a four-man JV team that was led by Cole Nietert's 178.8-pin average with Justin Fichter at 164.8, Caden Bainbridge averaging 147.2, and Joey Pagan finishing at a 144.4-pin average.
Clarke bowling will continue on with the winter/spring portion of their schedule when they head back to Cedar Rapids, Iowa for their third Mid-Iowa Bowling Conference event of the season on Jan. 27-28.