CONTACT: Steve Mullen (518) 629-8063
FOR RELEASE: Immediate, Sunday, December 26, 2004
The Hudson Valley Community College men's and women's bowling teams will open the 2004-05 season at the two-day Colgate Invitational in Stratford, New Jersey beginning on Monday, December 27.
Traditionally one of the top teams in Region III, Hudson Valley finished lower than expected in last year's Region III tournament. The men finished third out of six schools and the women finished fourth.
That's not exactly the spot Hall of Fame Head Coach Joe Prest wants to stay, considering Hudson Valley's men's and women's bowling teams have combined to win 19 Mountain Valley Conference championships since 1990.
"We've been practicing very well," Prest said. "We need to concentrate and make spares if we want to be successful this year."
Prest is looking towards sophomores John Costello (Troy/Catholic Central High School), Don Govel (Guilderland/Guilderland High School) and Joe Malone (Colonie/Colonie High School) to lead the men's team.
Although there are eight bowlers on the women's team - the most in Prest's 17 seasons - it is a very young team. Sophomore Holly Churchill (Schenectady/Schenectady High School) has the potential to become the third Hudson Valley bowler in the last three years to earn a full athletic scholarship to a Division I school - Erin Fagan signed with the University of Maryland-Eastern Shore in 2003 and Katie Duncan signed with Arkansas State University in 2004.