The Weber State University Bowling Club won its first out-of-state tournament of the season in a tournament in Camarillo, Calif., hosted by California State University, Long Beach at Harley’s Camarillo Bowl. The tournament started on Nov. 19 and ended on the next day.

The team lost a few games to California Polytechnic State University and to the University of California, but the Wildcats came back to defeat UC Davis in the last game to win the tournament.

WSU Head Coach Fred Meaders said he was pleased with the team, which won some important matches against a number of talented teams.

“There were a numbers of very competitive teams in the western U.S.,” Meaders said. “It was a very challenging tournament for us.”

He said they finally got a few good breaks at the right time to win the important games. The team finished with a final record of 6-2 in the tournament.

The team made good showings against a couple of teams it has struggled to defeat in the past, easily beating the CSULB team, which was a national champion last year, and narrowly defeating Arizona State University.

“My team really performed well,” Meaders said. “When someone was struggling with a score of 1-2, others players would step up their performances.”

Senior Mark Mandell bowled best the first day with an average of 226 and a high game of 278. Kasey Kolezak, also a senior, bowled the second day with an average of 232 and a high game of 259.

“The tournament was really good,” Mandell said.  “The team bowled well together.”

Mandell had 90 shots with 49 strikes, and 37 shots with 29 spares.

“I felt good,” Mandell said. “It was nice to get the breaks and win the tournament.”

Mandell said the entire team stepped up and performed when they needed to. He said he is proud of the way everyone pulled together after a few early losses in the tournament.

“I loved how well we bowled as a team,” he said. “We are amazing.”

Mandell said it was a good feeling to win the first tournament of the season and get one step closer to the nationals.

“I am very proud of my team because they work really hard to win the tournament,” Meaders said. “We have to keep practicing, so we can win more upcoming tournaments of the season.”

Meaders said that hopefully this will act as a spring-broad for the team in upcoming tournaments, now that they know they can win a tournament. He said the first win is usually the hardest.