Quintet Heads To Junior Gold Championship
7/16/2016 7:17:00 PM | Women's Bowling
Three current members of Sam Houston's nationally-ranked women's bowling team and two incoming freshmen for the 2016-17 Bearkat squad will be among the more than 800 ladies battling for spots on the Junior Team USA at the Junior Gold Championships in Indianpolis, Indiana, this week.
Heather Penatzer, Stephanie Zavala and Madysen Keller all were part of Sam Houston's women's bowling team that rolled up a school record-tying 102 dual match victories while earning the Bearkats' fifth NCAA Championships berth in the program's six-year history this season.
Penatzer is a current Junior Team USA member. She was one of two Bearkats to earn National Tenpin Coaches Association all-America honors this spring. Zavala and Keller placed 65th and 179th, respectively, in the Junior Gold competition in 2015.
Joining the trio are Taryn Gray from Greenville, Texas and Jessica Schram of New Lenox, Illinois, both talented junior bowlers who have signed letters-of-intent to play for the Bearkats beginning this fall.
Schram finished 56th at the 2015 event while Gray placed 220th.
The Junior Gold Championships is an annual national tournament for the top male and female youth bowlers in the United States. The tournament awards scholarships and youth bowlers competing in the under 20 and under 15 divisions also have the opportunity to earn a spot on Junior Team USA. The tournament has six divisions – under 12 boys, under 12 girls, under 15 boys, under 15 girls, under 20 boys and under 20 girls.
Junior Gold qualifying events are held throughout the country. For more information on the 2016 Junior Gold Championships go to the Junior Gold website.
