SVSU's most successful sport looking to repeat

December 10, 2007 —

by Doug Julian

SVSU bowling is the school's most successful sports team, and is looking to capture the national title in 2008 having won it in 2006 and 2007.

This year poses a number of challenges for the SVSU bowling team, as it's lost several key bowlers and is in the process of rebuilding the team.

The bowling season stretches from October to April and the team has already bowled in six tournaments, winning two of them and placing top five in all the others. There are 25 bowlers on the team and the top eight attend all the tournaments.

Dan MacLelland is one of the team's top bowlers, with an average of 213. He talks about what it is like losing three key members of the team.

"It'll affect the team a little bit because we had a good chemistry last year," MacLelland said. "But we have really good freshmen who came in so I'm not too worried about this year."

MacLelland and other seasoned bowlers serve as mentors to this year's freshmen.

"The freshmen are really good at listening and doing what they're told," MacLelland said. "As the captain, I'm good at reading the lanes and letting them know where to play."

According to collegebowling.com, SVSU's team is ranked third in the nation, next to Lindenwood and Purdue. Wichita is the team's primary rival, as they are often one spot below them in the rankings.

"We want to make it to nationals and do our best while we're there," MacLelland said. "We want to win more than anything.

MacLelland describes optimism as a key component to success this year.

"We have more knowledge of bowling patterns we're bowling on," MacLelland said. "We just have to apply it to tournaments and do our best and not get down when we're doing bad."

Coach Dan Dorion describes the challenges of changing the team line-up.

"We've struggled," Dorion said. "We've won two tournaments out of the six we've entered.

"A lot of them don't have the skills," Dorion said about incoming freshmen bowlers. "They're in the learning stages."

He hopes that MacLelland's brother Steve is able to join the team when the new semester starts. Coach Dorion expressed his confidence in MacLelland's abilities.

"As long as Dan MacLelland is in my lineup, we have a chance," he said.

"We have a long way to go," Dorion said. "We've got a long year ahead of us."

Despite the somewhat jeopardized team chemistry and loss of vital bowlers, Coach Dorion describes the team's effort and hopes.

"I give the guys, everyone of them credit," he said.

"This is a rebuilding year for us and we may not win it all, but we're sure going to try to."