Bowling team heads to championships

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The RIT men’s bowling team placed fourth at the sectional qualifying tournament in Allentown, Penn. to make it to the United States Bowling Congress Intercollegiate Team Championships in Reno, Nev. April 16–18.

The Rochester Institute of Technology men’s bowling team will face off against the best bowlers in the nation April 16–18 at the United States Bowling Congress Intercollegiate Team Championships in Reno, Nev.

This is the fifth time in the past six years that the RIT team has qualified for the championships, which brings together the top 16 men’s and top 16 women’s teams in the country to compete for national titles. For a school to participate in the championships, it must compete in certified college tournaments and conferences throughout the season.

The RIT team will bowl six four-game matches against opponents as part of the qualifying round. The team will then be seeded based on the results of those matches and put into best-of-seven matches against other teams.

“The tournament is double elimination, which means if you lose two matches, you’re out,” said Tom DiPietro, the volunteer head coach of the team and a 2005 management information systems alumnus. “For the finals, the last two teams will face off in a best-of-three match that will air on the CBS Sports Network.”

Rather than using a typical league format, in which teammates each bowl 10 frames and the team score is the sum of each individual score, many collegiate tournaments use the Baker format. This format has teammates combine to bowl 10 frames toward one score.

“There are five bowlers that each bowl two frames,” said Steven Walton, a third-year industrial and systems engineering major from Webster, N.Y. “For example, the first bowler bowls the first and sixth frames, the second bowler bowls the second and seventh frames and so on.”

The RIT student team is made up of Walton; Andrew Mantione, a fourth-year finance major from Brighton, N.Y.; Cory Barber, a third-year chemical engineering major from Irondequoit, N.Y.; Ari Knill, a third-year environmental sustainability and health safety major from Brighton, N.Y.; Richy Kapadia, a third-year software engineering major from Memphis, Tenn.; Mark Scuderi, a fourth-year applied mathematics major from Greece, N.Y.; José Tamburini, a graduate student in applied statistics from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic; and Ian Lakind, a first-year networking systems administration major from State College, Pa. Head coaches are DiPietro and Brad Buckert, owner of Begin’rs to Pro’s Pro Shop.

Other participants in the men’s national competition include California State University Fresno, Calumet College of St. Joseph, Clarke University, Lindenwood University, Marian University, McKendree University, Morehead State University, Purdue University, Robert Morris University–Illinois, San José State University, Urbana University, Webber International University, Wichita State University, Midland University and University of Wisconsin–Whitewater.

The RIT bowling team is recognized as a club sport and participates in many fundraisers throughout the year to travel for competitions. To keep up with the RIT men’s bowling team at the national championships, follow them on Facebook and Twitter.