“I got to the point that I didn’t want to get my hopes up,” he said.
The veteran coach was so certain that he wouldn’t win this year – his fourth nomination – that he thought they announced Wichita State instead of Wright State at the awards ceremony.
“I was shocked,” he said. “I honestly couldn’t believe it.”
Coaches from both scholarship and club teams are eligible for the award.
“I wanted to win this, not for myself but for the program,” Fleck said. “As a club program, what we have to do is a little harder without scholarships. It feels good to be recognized for all of the hard work we’ve done.”
The Wright State women’s bowling team qualified for its sixth Intercollegiate Team Championship in the past eight years this season. And the Raiders, who earned their highest national ranking this season at No. 3, also won a school-record six tournaments.
Bringing home the hardware
It was a doubles gold-medal sweep for Team USA at the Pan American Bowling Confederation Champion of Champions event in Mexico last week.
Shannon Pluhowsky and Stefanie Johnson averaged 221.31 on their way to the women’s title while teammates Tommy Jones and Chris Via averaged 220.75 to secure the men’s title. The wins qualified the U.S. men and women for the 2017 World Games in Wroclaw, Poland.
But it wasn’t the only trip to medal stand for Pluhowsky, of Dayton, and Via, of Springfield. Pluhowsky earned the silver medal in women’s singles while Via collected the men’s bronze medal. Both Via and Pluhowsky also medaled in the Masters competition – for the top bowlers after singles and doubles – with Via earning silver and Pluhowsky claiming the bronze.
In all, Team USA won seven medals.
State tournament update
There’s no place like home – just ask the Dayton bowlers who sit atop the leaderboard at the Ohio United States Bowling Congress Women’s Bowling Association state tournament being held this year at Beaver-Vu Bowl and Poelking Marian Lanes.
Andrea Behr, Debbie Benchic, Amy Daniels, Sue Hartley and Melissa Van Dyke (Cleveland) are the current team handicap leaders with 3,660. Jamie Beard, Megan Kelly, Linda Kelly, Ann Coleman and Shannon Pluhowsky lead the team actual division with 3,477.
Pluhowsky is the all-events actual leader with 2,192 while Ann Coleman leads the singles actual division with 750.
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