One weekend. Two top finishes.
The Grand Canyon University Men's Bowling team posted a pair of top-two finishes over the weekend, winning Saturday's Oak Tree Lanes Open while placing second in the Forest Lanes Open Sunday. Both tournaments – which were the Lopes' third and fourth United States Bowling Congress tournaments of the season – were played in the Los Angeles suburbs of Diamond Bar and Lake Forest, respectively.
Oak Tree Lanes Open
The Lopes got the winning weekend going with a strong showing at the Oak Tree Lanes Open. Finishing in first, GCU edged out rival Arizona State University and Fresno State University, who rounded out the top three.
GCU senior Tom Ellis finished first individually with a career best in pins dropped, averaging 236 pins for seven games. Lopes' sophomore Alex Hartman also finished in the top five.
"I was able to help the team win by finding the right part of the lane thanks to some support from Coach Canfield and my teammates," said Ellis. "It felt great to secure an individual win this early in the season."
"We had a great overall team performance," said GCU Head Coach Ben Canfield. "It definitely helps, though, when you have a bowler out-average the field by over 20 pins per game."
Forest Lanes Open
In the first-ever Forest Lanes Open, the Lopes had to adjust to the lanes of the new venue early.
"It definitely is a process, adjusting to the lane conditions," said Canfield. "As the day went on, our guys were learning things about the surface."
GCU battled San Jose State University all day, falling behind in the third and fourth team games but fighting back, eventually coming up short in the final baker-style match, conceding first place to the Spartans by 14 pins.
Alex Hartman finished top five again, making it his fourth top-five finish in as many events.
The Men's JV team also swept their division, winning both days and accomplishing their goal of finishing top three in total pinfall at a West Coast event. The squad was led by Mike Jones (second individually) and Brendan Bobersky (seventh individually) both Saturday and Sunday.
