OKLAHOMA CITY (Dec. 22, 2018) – Oklahoma Christian made its first foray into club sports with the addition of bowling programs in 2018, and both the men's and women's program enjoyed immediate success.
Bowling's debut at OC, including the individual and team titles won by the Lady Eagles and Eagles right out of the gate, ranks as the No. 10 story in OC athletics for 2018.
OC announced in September 2017 that it would add bowling and hired
James Hayes, who had established a club program at Central Oklahoma, to coach the new programs. Hayes spent the next few months traveling and recruiting, building rosters that eventually included 13 men and nine women.
The teams' first competitive weekend, in the Southwest Intercollegiate Bowling Circuit I and II tournaments on Sept. 22-23 at Western Bowl in Amarillo, Texas, proved quite successful. OC's
Josh Imhoff, a freshman from Cabot, Ark., took the individual title on Saturday in SWIBC I and the Eagles finished as the runner-up in both tournaments.
Meanwhile, the Lady Eagles posted the program's first team title in SWIBC II on Sunday, with
Alexandria Ford of Bartlesville,
Melissa McConnell of Canton, Ga.,
Taylore Ryan of Allen, Texas and
Kaitlyn Esquer of Lawton finishing second, third, fourth and fifth, respectively.
