Men’s Bowling finishes 3rd in Las Vegas Glenn Carlson Invitational

Las Vegas, NV – The Calumet College men's bowling team traveled to Nevada for their four-day bowling competition that features some of the top-ranked teams across the country. On December 18-19, CCSJ competed in the Glenn Carlson Invitational where they finished seventh overall after nine qualifying rounds. They followed that up with two round wins in the Post Baker single elimination tournament to reach the final four and ultimately place third.

The Crimson Wave went through ups and downs during their nine qualifying rounds before finding success in the single elimination tournament. After three games, CCSJ was sitting in 8^th place with a score of 2932. Calumet College rose to 6^th after six games, then down to 7^th after games seven and eight. CCSJ would remain at 7^th after its nine qualifying games with an overall score of 8918. 

In the first round of the single elimination tournament, the Crimson Wave faced 10-seeded William Penn. CCSJ was able to handle William Penn with a 3-1 win to advance and take on 15-seeded Grand Canyon in the second round.

Calumet College found themselves trailing 2-0 against Grand Canyon, but with a simple technique change according to head coach Mike Kubacki, CCSJ was able to make a comeback.

"When you're bowling in college, sometimes you have to be creative in how you attack the launch angles and release into the break point down lane," Kubacki said. "So, we were facing steeper angles and bigger hook windows and once we opened up our launch angles, we pretty much destroyed Grand Canyon the last three games."

The Crimson Wave won three-straight to complete the comeback against Grand Canyon in a best of five round series and advance to the final four. Unfortunately, in the next round for CCSJ, they couldn't win a game against 3-seeded Wichita as they were shutout 3-0. 

Captain of the CCSJ men's bowling team Stefano Cittadino had the highest finish with a 1809 total and a 201 average through nine games. Mason Doan finished with a 1710 total and an average of 190 while Alexander Linnenbrink ended with a 1341 total and an average of 191.6 in seven games. Connor Pula had a total of 1124 and an average score of 224.8 in five games while Nick Dudeeck posted a total of 939 through five games for an average of 187.8.

Collegiate Shoot-Out

After placing third in the two-day invitational, the Crimson Wave looked to keep up if not improve their play at the Collegiate Shoot-Out, where many of the same teams were competing. 

CCSJ had a strong performance in the tournament as they placed fourth overall after six games played and qualified for the semi-final matches. Despite losing in round one of the semi-final matches, the Crimson Wave had two bowlers finish in the Top 10 amongst all individual scorers.

Helping Calumet College record an overall team score of 9528, was Alexander Linnenbrink and Connor Pula. Linnenbrink made the all-tournament team as he finished fifth individually, amongst more than 400 competitors. He posted a total of 1356, which gave him a tournament average of 226 through six games.

Pula finished in 10^th with an individual total of 1340, which gave him a tournament average of 223.3 in six games.

Stefano Cittadino finished at 16^th, notching an individual total of 1311. His tournament average was 218.5. Ian Dobran, who placed 32 overall, posted an individual score of 1253 and a tournament average of 208.8.

Up Next

The Crimson Wave finished 2023 with a 3^rd and 4^th place finish and are on break until January when the Wave returns to Addison, IL for the Kegel Midwest tournament and the Storm Baker Challenge.