Order Restored

Wichita State coach Gordon Vadakin ’82 insists he didn’t hear any whispers, but surely there were some floating throughout the collegiate bowling community.

Once the unquestioned powerhouse of men’s bowling, the Shockers had gone four long years without a national title — a modest stretch, perhaps, but a frustrating slump for a program with WSU’s rich tradition.

Making matters more urgent, Western Illinois had emerged as a dominant force by winning three of the past four titles.

Thus, it certainly would have been natural for quiet grumblings to surface about the Shockers: What’s wrong with WSU? Is Western Illinois now the team to beat?

But any such discussion was silenced and order restored when the gritty Shockers produced several dramatic comebacks and eventually defeated Morehead State in the finals of the Intercollegiate Bowling Championships (IBC) on April 26 in Tulsa, Okla.

It was the Shockers’ seventh championship overall and first since 1998. WSU also won in 1980 and 1987 before enjoying a three-peat that began in 1993.

While dismissing the notion that some were wondering about WSU’s status on the national stage, Vadakin did allow that his team was impatient to return to the top. “Absolutely, because we don’t go into the tournament hoping to win it occasionally,”  he says. “We expect to win it every year. That’s a lofty ambition.”

The head coach at Wichita State since 1977, Vadakin has long taken pride in molding bowlers with strong mental games, and those powers were put to the test at the IBC. Winners of four straight tourneys, WSU was playing well entering the championships but promptly dropped into the losers’ bracket of the 16-team field.

“That,” Vadakin says, “made it a fairly long road for us.” Fairly long — there’s an understatement.

Just one loss from elimination, Wichita State had to beat Central Missouri, San Jose, Western Illinois and Cal State Fullerton simply to reach the finals. And once in the finals, which were televised nationally on ESPN2, WSU  immediately fell behind Morehead State by losing the opening game of the best-of-three series by the score of 210-130. Yes, 130. It was a performance Vadakin describes as “beyond horrible.”

Vadakin says that “nerves” and the lane conditions caused the poor score. “Certainly, we were unaccustomed to being in that situation, under that pressure, so there were some jitters,” he said. “The TV lights made the lane surface much hotter. We started to make some pretty good adjustments halfway through the second half. We got the jitters out a little bit and found a little better way to get to the pocket.”

Even so, Morehead State was in prime position to close out the Shockers in Game 2. A simple mark — strike or spare — in the 10th frame would have clinched the match for Morehead State and sent WSU home disappointed again. “You get philosophical in those situations,” Vadakin says. “It was out of our control. We’d done all we could do.”

Amazingly, Morehead State’s bowler threw a split, the 2-8-10, allowing WSU to escape with a 161-155 victory.

More drama came in the deciding Game 3.

The game was tied in the eighth when Joe Keltner came up for WSU. (In the national championship format, bowlers alternate turns.) It was a pressure situation, and Keltner responded with what Vadakin termed the key shot of the game — a no-doubt strike. “Keltner just flushed it,” Vadakin says. “Off his hand, he knew it was a strike, and you could just tell by his body language. A clutch shot.”

Morehead State opened in the ninth, and WSU senior Nathan Bohr, on his last collegiate ball, struck to seal the victory, and national title, for the Shockers. Sean Rash, WSU’s first-team All-American, also struck in the 10th for good measure.

The final score was WSU 245, Morehead 187 — and the Shockers were the kingpins of collegiate bowling once again.

Other members of the title team were A.J. Demond, Scott How, Kevin Tabron, Russ Wilson, Aaron Koch, Mark Buffa, Chris Greene, Tony Johnson and Derrick Woods.

Women: Third in the Nation

The women’s team, ranked No. 1 in the country, placed third at the national championships. Kristal Scott was named to the all-tournament team.

“The women had an outstanding season,” Vadakin says. “They just fell a little short.” The team, coached by former Shocker bowler Mark Lewis, won four tournaments during the season. Junior Maggie Smith, from Lenexa, Kan., was named  second-team All-American.