CONTACT: Jeff Foley (518) 629-8085
FOR RELEASE: Immediate, Monday, March 10, 2003
Behind the stellar efforts of Katie Duncan (Voorheesville H.S.) and Erin Fagan (Columbia H.S.), Hudson Valley Community College's women's bowling team placed fourth overall at this past weekend's 2003 National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) championship tournament at Erie Community College. Participating in the doubles competition, Duncan and Fagan combined for a score of 1,168 to earn the national women's doubles title. Fagan was the 2002 singles champion.
As a team, Hudson Valley tallied 11,891 pins. Erie won the women's overall title with 12,506 pins, while Briarcliffe College (12,309) finished second and Vincennes University (12,171) took third.
"I'm very proud of our women," said Hudson Valley coach Joe Prest, a member of the NJCAA Bowling Hall of Fame. "With six games to go, they were just 120 pins out of second place. They were competitive for the entire tournament."
Fagan placed 10th in the singles competition with 547 pins and Duncan (530) was 13th. Shauna Sondak (Greenville H.S) and Laura Gaudette (Cohoes H.S.) placed fifth in the doubles competition, combining for 1,078 pins. Fagan was sixth in the all-events competition (185.4 average for 12 games) while Gaudette (184.5) was eighth and Duncan (180.0) was 10th.
Hudson Valley's men also took part in the national championship tournament and finished sixth in the nation with 12,858 pins. Steve Horton (Troy H.S.) led the way for the Vikings, placing 11th in the all-events competition (199.8 average for 12 games) and 20th in the singles competition (594). Greg Jette (Columbia H.S.) and Josh Tomlin (Columbia H.S.) took sixth in the doubles competition, combining for 1,231 pins.
Vincennes (13,828) held off Mohawk Valley Community College (13,826) for the overall men's title.
The men established a new NJCAA record for a Baker game, in which five members of a squad each bowl two frames. Hudson Valley's Horton, Jette, Tomlin, Dan Ahl (Colonie H.S.) and Jesse Knapp (Colonie H.S.) rolled a combined 288.
"We had five first-year players on the men's team, and now they know what it takes to succeed at the championship tournament," said Prest, who just completed his 16th season as Hudson Valley's coach. "We should have two excellent teams next year."
In the 2001-02 academic year, Hudson Valley's athletic teams combined to win 65 percent of their contests. The college's softball team traveled to Illinois for the national championship tournament and finished second in the country, and the women's basketball team placed seventh in the nation. Hudson Valley's football team won the Northeast Football Conference, and the baseball and bowling squads each added a Mountain Valley Conference title. Additionally, three Vikings earned Region III Player-of-the-Year status and eight were honored with All-American status.