SHAWNEE, Okla. (Feb. 10, 2019) –
Josh Imhoff finished a sweep of two major Southwest Intercollegiate Bowling Circuit awards and Oklahoma Christian earned its second team tournament title on Sunday, emerging from match play victorious in the SWIBC Championships at Firelake Bowl.
Imhoff, a freshman from Cabot, Ark., was named after the tournament as both the SWIBC player of the year and rookie of the year. Imhoff's 216.78 scoring average in SWIBC competition this season was more than 13 pins higher than that of the second-place player on the list.
"Josh has had an amazing rookie season so far and to come out and also be player of the year in a tough conference is quite the accomplishment," OC coach
James Hayes said. "He has been a leader on the lanes for the Eagles and I look for that to continue going into the postseason."
Also making the 10-man All-SWIBC team were OC freshmen
Sam Butler of Texarkana, Texas (eighth with a 198.37 average) and
Andrew McCann of Lawton (10th with a 192.32 average).
In the tournament, Imhoff finished second with a nine-game scoring total of 1,922, trailing only Bradley Harvey of West Texas A&M at 2,046, to make the five-man all-tournament team. Butler just missed that honor, placing eighth in the 84-man field at 1,797. Butler and Imhoff were the only OC bowlers to roll all nine games in the tournament.
The 12 teams in the tournament bowled six games on Saturday and three more on Sunday to try to be one of the four teams to qualify for match play, which used a Baker game format to determine the event winner. OC, with a team score of 8,779, was the second seed behind West Texas A&M at 9,399.
OC downed third-seeded Texas Tech 3-2 in the semifinals, but not without drama. OC won the first two Baker games of the match but the Red Raiders stormed back to tie the match before the Eagles righted the ship and won the decisive fifth game.
The Eagles advanced to play top-seeded West Texas A&M, which beat fourth-seeded Kansas Wesleyan in the semifinals. OC won the first game against the Buffaloes, but West Texas A&M rallied to tie the match before the Eagles won games three and four to take their second tournament title in the program's inaugural season.
OC won its first men's team title on Jan. 12 in the SWIBC V tournament at AMF Richardson in Richardson, Texas.
In the SWIBC season standings, OC finished with 600 points, second to West Texas A&M with 650. The Buffaloes played in all seven SWIBC events to earn points while OC played in only five.
"What can I say?" Hayes said. "This group of young men is special. They struggled a little in qualifying but kept fighting and found themselves the number two seed going into match play. Even after letting Texas Tech back in it, they just would not quit and found a way to get to the championship. Once in the championship, they knew they had their hands full with a very good WT team. They came together and found a way to get it done.
"I am very proud of them and their accomplishments in their first season. This is a group of mainly freshmen making their name known in college bowling. They have worked hard and matured over the season and are really beginning to look like a championship team. I can't tell you how much fun it has been to not only coach but watch what they have done. The future is very bright for the young men and I think it's not over yet."
OC entered the tournament ranked 35th nationally among 182 teams and it seems likely the Eagles will be selected to compete in the Intercollegiate Team Championships Sectional Qualifier, set for March 8-10 at USA Bowl in Dallas. Selections for that event will be announced on Feb. 20.
