SSU men's bowling concludes 2024-25 season with best ITC Sectional finish in program history (11th)

SMYRNA, Tenn. -- The men's bowling program at Shawnee State University concluded its two-day run with a significant milestone.

While that milestone didn't involve qualifying for the 2025 Intercollegiate Team Championships at Las Vegas, Nev. in April, Bryan Sturgell's group did accomplish the best ITC Sectional finish in the history of the men's bowling program Sunday -- as the Shawnee State men's bowling squad, with just one senior on its 13-bowler roster, knocked down 12,146 pins over 64 games to finish 11th and claim the program's best-ever finish in sectional competition to conclude its season at the Smyrna Bowling Center in Smyrna, Tenn. Sunday.

Shawnee State, who averaged 189.8 pins per rack over its 64 Baker games played across the two-day sectional, bowled the best Baker score in Game 35 (245) of the 18 teams in the sectional and nabbed the second-best Baker score in Games 53 (218) and 61 (219).

In addition to those efforts, Shawnee State also bowled over 200 in nine additional Bakers -- eclipsing the 200-pin mark in Games 39, 42, 44, 46, 49, 50, 55, 57 and 64 by bowling marks of 212, 210, 214, 225, 224, 221, 220, 209 and 204 in those contests.

Ultimately, the Bears bettered seven programs from five different states, including SCAD-Atlanta (Ga.), Indiana Wesleyan, Florida State, Vincennes (Ind.), Missouri Baptist, Huntington (Ind.) and Cumberlands (Ky.).

Overall, Shawnee State loses just one senior -- Sam Clay -- from the 2024-25 roster. However, Clay's impact as a four-year player was tremendous -- as the Huntington, W. Va. product improved his bowling average by over 24.5 pins per game (182.15 to 206.65) from his freshman year to his senior year.

Clay has the distinction of not only having the highest individual scoring average in a single season in program history, but also holds the distinction of being a part of the program's highest-finishing sectional unit in program history, as well -- in addition to the program's first three event victories in program history to boot.

Shawnee State finished 11th, but across 64 games, finished less than 750 pins back of Trine (Ind.) who earned the fourth and final transfer position, to the ITC Team Championships.

This week's performance marked the first time that the men's bowling program finished inside the top-15 in sectional competition in its history as well -- as the Shawnee State men's previous best finish in a ITC Sectional was 17th in 2021.