The third annual Silicon Valley Classic bowling tournament at Moonlite Lanes in Santa Clara ended Sunday with the Fresno State Bulldogs taking first place in the men's division and the Cal State Fullerton Titans taking first in the women's division.
The two-day event, sponsored by San Jose State University's bowling teams, brought together more than 10 different universities around California to bowl for first and second place scholarships for their bowling teams.
Although neither division of the SJSU teams succeeded in winning scholarships, there were many notable achievements.
On the women's team, Annette Miller rolled a 297 in Game 7, three pins away from scoring a perfect game.
"I was kind of relaxed. I didn't look at the scores or pay attention," Miller said. "With my first ball on the tenth frame, I was relaxed; with the second, I was nervous, and then on the third I was happy."
According to head coach Sheri Tomisaka-Wong, it was hard for the SJSU women's bowling team to be let down by the competition because of the many personal successes the bowlers had achieved.
"They did pretty well," Tomisaka-Wong said. "They set individual goals and accomplished them."
The Bulldogs had usually been the women's team's biggest competition this year, which made it a surprise that Fullerton was able to get first, Tomisaka-Wong said.
The SJSU men's bowling team was split into two teams of five called the blue team and the gold team.
The blue team had to play Fullerton once on the second day to see who would challenge Fresno in the final round and then again to find out who would receive second after the Bulldogs beat the Titans.
"I didn't mind it. They're competitive. They're nice guys," said Marc Sanwo, an SJSU bowler.
The event had competitions between all participating teams in the first half of both days, with the eight teams that scored the highest entering the baker elimination round.
The elimination format is used in many professional bowling tournaments and is known for its inconsistent patterns of rotating each of the five players on the team, per frame, in a series. The variety becomes a challenge in the way in which bowlers strategize their actions.
This is one of the aspects that made the competition a challenge for both the blue and the gold teams, said Brad Bargabus, assistant coach of the SJSU men's division bowling teams.
"In the way the format is, it's anybody's game," Bargabus said. "Sometimes it comes down to luck. I wouldn't have done anything differently."
Many of the players on the SJSU bowling teams were listed on the top 10 average lists in both days.
Both Phil Campit, of the SJSU blue team, and Jason Reinfeld, team captain of the SJSU gold team, shared the highest averages of all the players with 234 points on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
"With the baker format, you can't make a mistake. Any mistake you make will hurt you," Reinfeld said. "Normally, teams need an average of 180 to win. We were bowling 240s. It was tough."
In the three years that the tournament has taken place, SJSU has never been awarded first-place scholarships, which offer $500 for the men's division and $400 for the women's division.
Lindsey Wong, head coach of the SJSU men's bowling teams, coordinated the event.
"The matches were exciting. A lot came down to the last game and last frame," Wong said. "A couple of teams that weren't heavy threats beat the top teams, and that was exciting."
Long Beach State had won the event last year but was unable to crack the top eight on either day of this year's event.
The SJSU bowling teams will prepare for their next tournament, the Brunswick Coca-Cola Tournament, scheduled in Las Vegas in February.
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