Erie Takes Home Hardware at Bowling Championships

Cheektowaga, NY-  Erie Community college played hosts to the best NJCAA bowlers this week as the college hosted the Men's and Women's Bowling Championships at Airport Lanes in Cheektowaga.

Both Erie teams came into the competition having won their Region III Championships two weeks ago. Today the men finished second while the women took third.  

"We could not be more proud of our men's and women's teams performances during this years NJCAA National Championship," said Head Coach David Zajac.

"Entering the Championship our men's team had their sights set on hoisting the programs 19th NJCAA Team Title. They gave it all they had right up to the very end, unfortunately falling short to Rock Valley CC. It was a true team effort from start to finish. With our recent successes the last two years in this event, we are eager to see what 2024 and onward has in store for us," continued Zajac.  

Freshman Bobby Richmond was crowned the overall singles champion.  Richmond bowled 2806 pins and finished with an average of 233.8.   Richmond and Cameron Stark were named to the All American Team. Stark finished in seventh place for the tournament earning his second straight All American honor. 

The men's team improved upon their third place finish from last year's championships with the second place finish. 

The ladies also had an impressive showing this year. They started the today in sixth place and 169 pins behind third place Iowa Central CC.  They bowled their season high team game (1,061) and season high team three game series (2,863) to work their way into contention.  When it was over, the third place trophy was theirs by 53 points after not even placing in the top five in 2022.

Zajac said of the Lady Kats, "At the start of the season, I made the statement that the lady's roster would be the rejuvenation of the program and today they showed us exactly that!"