Editor's note: One of a series of stories looking back at OC athletic highlights in 2019.
OKLAHOMA CITY (Dec. 23, 2019) – In Oklahoma Christian's inaugural season of bowling, a freshman for the Eagles quickly established himself as the top player in the Southwest Intercollegiate Bowling Circuit and OC won an important tournament title.
Josh Imhoff's sweep of SWIBC individual honors and the Eagles' win in the circuit tournament ranks as the No. 9 story in OC athletics for 2019.
Imhoff, from Cabot, Ark., won his first collegiate tournament, taking the SWIBC I individual title in Amarillo, Texas, on Sept. 22, 2018, then later won the SWIBC V tournament in Richardson, Texas, on Jan. 12 of this year. He also posted top-five individual finishes in the SWIBC II, SWIBC VI and SWIBC Championship tournaments.
During the season, he recorded a 205.81 scoring average in 64 games, including a 216.78 average in SWIBC competition. The latter total was more than 13 pins per game higher than the runner-up on that list, and as a result, Imhoff was named as both the SWIBC player of the year and rookie of the year. He joined teammates
Sam Butler and
Andrew McCann on the 10-man All-SWIBC honor list.
Imhoff finished 22nd nationally in scoring average and fifth among freshmen.
In the SWIBC Championship at Firelake Bowl in Shawnee on Feb. 10, the Eagles earned their second tournament title of the season, beating top-seeded West Texas A&M 3-1 in the match-play final.
Both OC's men's and women's teams went on to qualify for the U.S. Bowling Congress' Intercollegiate Team Sectionals, the first step of postseason play for collegiate bowling.
