Ex-high school bowlers keep careers rolling in college

By Leila Wai
Advertiser Staff Writer

Who would have thought a little friendly competition on Saturday nights at Waialae Bowl would end up with a shot at a national collegiate championship?

"We used to bowl in junior leagues together and we used to compete against each other," Uyehara said. "We practiced every Saturday night at Waialae. Ivan kind of introduced me to (the idea of bowling in college). He told me how good the bowling club was."

Uyehara, a 2003 graduate of Hawai'i Baptist is a freshman and and Miyasato, a 2001 graduate of 'Aiea, is a third-year sophomore.

The championships are April 14 to 18 at Tulsa, Okla., and although it is not sanctioned by the NCAA, it is the equivalent of a national championship.

Fresno State qualified for the championships after finishing in the top four of the Tempe (Ariz.) Regional in the IBC Sectional Qualifier last month.

At the sectional qualifier, Miyasato's average was 205.967, and Uyehara's was 193.300.

Both also had success during the regular season.

Miyasato won the West Coast Championships (213.667). He also has two other top-10 finishes. He was named to the California Intercollegiate Bowling Conference All-Conference team.

Uyehara has three top-five finishes, and finished with a season average of 209.135. He was second in the Silicon Valley tournament (222.667). He was given a National Collegiate Bowling Coaches Association Academic All-American Award, for a 4.0 grade point average.

Uyehara said the biggest difference between bowling in high school and college is the intensity.

"Back home, at the time it seemed really intense and very important, but when you get to college you look at how it is structured and it is really professional," he said. "It seems like high school bowling was a lot more social; there were a lot of people doing it for fun."

He also said that in college, most matches come down to what is called "Bakers," when all five members of a squad bowl two frames.

"Everyone bowls two frames, and you have to have team unity and trust each other," he said. "If one person does bad that can drop your score a lot. You only have two frames to do your best shots."

It creates more of a team game in college, as opposed to high school, when, "you can rely on one or two bowlers to hold up the team."

Uyehara and Miyasato were bowlers their high school teams counted on.

Uyehara won the 2002 ILH singles championship, and led the league with a 207.8 average. He placed eighth in the state tournament his senior year.

Miyasato came in second in the state tournament his senior year, and in 2002 was one of only eight members of the Junior TEAM USA, a national junior bowling team that represented the United States in international youth competition in 2003. The team was designed to be part of a feeder system for TEAM USA, the U.S. national amateur team.

Uyehara said that he thinks Hawai'i high school bowlers would be more interested in pursuing bowling in college if they knew more about it.

"A lot of Hawai'i kids don't know about college bowling on the Mainland," Uyehara said. "It's something that a lot of Hawai'i kids, after high school, it is something they would do, but they just don't know about it."

He said their squad did meet up with two bowlers from Hawai'i in competitions — Purdue's Bob Fuke of Kalani and UNLV's Sakai Watanabe of Hilo.

Uyehara said college bowling is popular in the Midwest and the East. And it is growing on the West Coast.

Kansas, Penn State, San Jose State, Arizona State, Washington, Illinois, Purdue, Texas A&M and Virginia Tech field teams.

Bowling on the college level is still a club sport, with none of the members of the bowling teams receiving scholarships.

But Uyehara said that if teams place high in competitions, they can win prize money for their clubs. Fresno State's prize money is used for travel expenses, lodging and tournament fees.

"Which is huge," Uyehara said. "All we do is pay for our food. Others have to pay for their road trips."

Notes: Uyehara said that high school bowlers interested in continuing their bowling careers in college should visit collegebowling.com to "check out schools and contact coaches." ... College club rules state that a player has four years of eligibility. Athletes must take a minimum of 12 units a semester and maintain a cumulative grade point average of 2.0.

Reach Leila Wai at lwai@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2457.

Correction: Bob Fuke's name was incorrect in a previous version of this story.