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April 7, 2008
PRINCESS ANNE, Md. - The Lady Hawks are primed and ready. After all, their goal is to improve just one spot from last year. Seems feasible right? Well that one spot will mean the first ever NCAA National Championship for the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) and if all goes according to plan, Head Coach Sharon Brummell will have her Hawks on top of the collegiate bowling world. "Moving up that one spot would be huge," said Brummell. "I was so happy with last year's outcome, but very disappointed." UMES entered the 2007 NCAA Championships ranked fourth in the nation and went all the way to game seven in the best of seven series with Vanderbilt for the national title. This year they see their future a little better. They are ranked second in the nation, the highest ranking ever for a team at UMES, and have wins against all of the top teams this season. The Hawks leave on Wednesday for the 2008 version of the NCAA Championships and are one of just one of four teams in the nation to have attended every event. They will receive a send-off from the campus today, April 7, with a pep rally in front of the Student Services Center beginning at 5:00 p.m. The event, coordinated by the University and the Student Government Association will honor much of the Hawks' success throughout the season, including the three MEAC championships in cross-country and women's indoor track and of course be a proper send-off for the bowling team. "I am humbled that the University would do this," said Brummell. "This has been a great year, not just for bowling, but for athletics in general and I am happy the SGA and school would honor all the success we have had up to this point. Hopefully, we can return with something else to celebrate after this weekend." UMES is just on of eight teams selected via an at large process for the NCAA Championship. Also participating will be defending champion Vanderbilt, #1 Nebraska, Central Missouri, Sacred Heart, New Jersey City, Arkansas State and Minnesota State. The event is held at Thunder Alley in Omaha, Nebraska April 10-12. Teams will bowl four five-person regular team games plus Baker matches, completed in four five-game sets, on Thursday, April 10, determining seeding for the double elimination match play portion which begins Friday, April 11.
If things go as hoped UMES will bowl in the championship match Saturday, April 12 at 8 p.m. live on ESPNU. It will later be replayed on Monday April 14 at 7 p.m. on ESPN2. No stranger to television, the Hawks were the most televised team in the country last season as they were shown with their win in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Championship and the NCAA Championship on numerous occasions. They have already started that again, winning their third straight MEAC title, an event aired tape-delayed this past Thursday, April, 3 on ESPNU. Fans wanting to tune in to the championships can also view the live webcast of rounds 1-4 on April 11 at www.ncaa.com. If a round five is necessary it can also be seen on the site. While the NCAA Championship is the pinnacle for an NCAA team like UMES, the national hopes do not rest solely in Nebraska. UMES also qualified for the USBC National Championships. The USBC Intercollegiate Team Championships is an event that mainly is made up of club teams from colleges around the country and has a men and women's division champion. UMES will attend the event since they were one of the top four teams at the Sectional Qualifier held March 15-16. The Lady Hawks attended the Allentown (Pa.) Sectionals and finished third to Pikeville and Morehead State with 11,492 pins in a 64 Baker System game format. Two seasons ago UMES attended the event and were seeded first after day one. The Hawks did not participate last season. UMES heads back to the Midwest the weekend following the NCAA Championships to go to Northrock Lanes in Wichita Kansas, April 16-19. They are the only NCAA-DI team in the field. That championship will also be televised, this time by CBS College Sports Network. "It will be a busy couple of weeks for us," said Brummell. But it will be one that will test us to see how good we are and help our freshmen get experience on a national level." Cheer the Hawks on in their quest for a national championship, following the results live on the internet through www.umeshawks.com and hopefully on television for both championships. |
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