Kuwahara named NCAA Elite 90 winner
4/12/2017 9:30:00 PM | Women's Bowling
Before the NCAA Bowling championships get started on Thursday, the Sam Houston State Bearkats are already bringing home some hardware.
Senior Janine Kuwahara was awarded the most prestigious award of the night, winning the NCAA Elite 90 Award for the second consecutive season. The Elite 90 Award is given to the top student athlete at the championship event.
“Janine has been a model student athlete for four years,” said head coach Brad Hagen. “She was part of our national championship team as a freshman and has been an integral part of our success. And to couple that with what she has been able to accomplish in the classroom has been truly amazing.”
It capped a night that the Kats also took home a pair of All-American honors with Heather Penatzer taking third-team honors and Kuwahara being named honorable mention.
This season Penatzer has earned three all-tournament honors. She is second on the team in scoring with an average of 198.44 over 39 games this season. Penatzer was also a third-team selection last season.
“One of the big things for heather this year was she stayed healthy,” Hagen said. “She has been so consistent all year and has made plenty of big shots for us all year long.”
Kuwahara is the top scorer on the team, just edging Penatzer with a 198.60 average. She has also been named to three all-tournament teams this season. She becomes the first three-time All-American selection in school history.
Thursday's competition will feature five qualifying matches beginning at 12:50. Friday will be the final two qualifying matches with the double elimination bracket play starting Friday afternoon.
All matches will be streamed on NCAA.com and the finals Saturday night will be televised live on ESPNU.
