Get your copy of our weekly print products at any of these convenient locations.
Viterbo adds bowling as varsity sport for men and women
Viterbo University in La Crosse announced Tuesday that bowling would become a varsity sport for men and women in 2009-10.
"We're very excited to add men's and women's intercollegiate bowling at Viterbo," Viterbo Athletic Director Barry Fried said in a statement. "It's a great lifetime sport and one of the fastest growing sports in the country."
Driven in part by gender equity issues, bowling is one of the fastest growing varsity sports for women and earlier this decade became an official NCAA sport for women. But varsity bowling programs for men remain rare, although the sport is strong on the unofficial club sport level.
No other state universities have bowling as a varsity sport for men, while UW-Whitewater is the only other state university to have bowling as a varsity sport for women.
But almost every college in Wisconsin has bowling as a club sport and can compete against varsity programs. The United States Bowling Congress is the national governing body for bowling and oversees all competition for all intercollegiate competition (varsity and club).
"UW-Whitewater elevated women's bowling to varsity status in 2004 and it has exceeded all our expectations," UW-Whitewater Athletic Director Paul Plinske said in a statement. "Bowlers have come in from all over the country to fill our 18-member roster. We have ample competition opportunities, but are always looking for more. We are excited to have Viterbo join us in intercollegiate competition."
The bowling season runs from October to March. Standard collegiate competition utilizes a five-player team with each teams regular travel roster consisting of up to eight players.
Viterbo, a private four-year university with about 3,000 students, said a key driver in the decision was the booming growth in high school bowling in Wisconsin: While not an official WIAA sport, 132 state high schools have club teams with more than 2,500 students participating, making Wisconsin one of the top 10 states in the nation. And the Madison area is one of the top areas in the state for high school bowling.
Many other states do sanction bowling as an official high school varsity sport.
"I know there are some great youth and high school bowling programs right here in the Coulee Region and we'd like to offer those students an opportunity to bowl at the next level when they're considering a college," Fried said.
Viterbo also announced that Pla-More Lanes in La Crosse will be the home practice and competition facility for the V-Hawks.
"We're very excited to enter into a partnership with Viterbo University and their bowling program," Pla-Mor owner Dick Zierke said in a statement. "This is absolutely huge both locally and nationally for the bowling community and we feel very fortunate to be a part of this."
"We're also excited to begin our partnership with Pla-Mor Lanes. Dick and Lori (Zierke) run a first-class operation at Pla-Mor and are very well respected in the bowling community," Fried said.
Men's and women's bowling is the third sport to be added in three years for Viterbo, which added men's and women's golf last fall and will start men's and women's cross country this fall.
As of 2009-2010, the V-Hawks will sponsor 13 sports.
