Trailblazer Bowling season in full swing after first two tournaments

VINCENNES, Ind. – The Vincennes University Bowling season is underway and the Trailblazers are currently the 37th best team in the country.

The Blazers first hit the road to take part in the Golden Eagle Invite in Rockford, Ill, where VU placed 13 out of 22 teams, with a team score of 8597.

VU was led by sophomore Dylan Mollo (Centerville, Ind.) who finished with a total of 1291 in six games for the Blazers, which was good for a seventh-place finish as an individual.

Freshmen Reyce Buchanan (Indianapolis, Ind.) and Alex Wiles (Bloomington, Ind.) followed closely behind with Buchanan finishing with 1263 and Wiles ending at 1172.

Buchanan's score was good enough for a Top-10 finish, placing 10th on the individual leaderboard.

Freshman Brighton Lucas (Salem, Ind.) shot a 839 in five games and freshman Garrison Taladay (Terre Haute, Ind.) ended with a 658 in four games.

Freshmen William Keene (Sullivan, Ind.), Michael Zimmerman (Highland, Ind.) and junior Lucas Breckenridge (Martinsville, Ind.) all bowled one game each, with Keene finishing with a 162, Breckenridge 159 and Zimmerman 153.

This past weekend the Trailblazers hit the road again to take part in the Midwest Collegiate Championships in Wauwatosa, Wis.

"The Midwest Championship was a Tier One tournament," VU Bowling coach Stephen Mohn said. "Tier One tournaments tend to have bigger crowds and normally consist of the top talent in the country or region."

"We did better in Wisconsin than our first tournament," Mohn added. "We finished 17th against much tougher competition out of 41 teams."

The Trailblazers finished just 280 pins out of the Top-10 or roughly 17 pins per game.

"We had a few guys that weren't quite themselves and our spare shooting wasn't quite as sharp, but we had a few pretty large Baker games and overall we just grinded all weekend."

"Our team is still learning how to grind and how to become shot makers," Mohn said. "But the team had a great time. Our team chemistry is fantastic and our best weeks are yet to come."

Vincennes as a team, finished with a team score of 5706 in six games, with a 3095 score in Baker games, good for a total team score of 8801.

The Blazers had three bowlers finish with average scores above 200 pins, with Brighton Lucas leading the team with 1230 pins or 205 per game.

Dylan Mollo and Reyce Buchanan also broke the 1200 pin mark, with Mollo finishing with 1227 or 204.5 per game and Buchanan ending at 1201 or 200.2 pins per game.

Alex Wiles placed fourth for the Blazers with a total score of 1032 in six games.

Garrison Taladay and Michael Zimmerman rounded out the VU scorers with Taladay ending with 717 pins in four games and Zimmerman hitting 299 in two games for the Blazers.

The VU Bowling team will be on the road again this weekend as they travel to Cincinnati, Ohio to take part in the Orange & Black Tournament, Saturday, Oct. 9 and Sunday, Oct. 10.