COLLEGE BOWLING: NEWARK VALLEY'S UMIKER WILL ROLL FOR BEARCATS (2020-04-09)

BY TIM TAYLOR
Tioga County Sports Report
NEWARK VALLEY — Alex Umiker will continue his bowling career at SUNY Binghamton University. The Newark Valley senior has decided to become a Bearcat, even though the NCAA does not sanction men's bowling.

"I committed to Binghamton University and I am going to bowl on the team there," Umiker said. "There is no official NCAA bowling but they compete against other 'D1' schools across the nation. They do have a national tournament that if you rank in the top 100 teams in your area the team would be able to go to nationals."

The BU team will play in tournaments throughout the season, Umiker said. He was unsure if they play head-to-head matches against other schools. There are currently three State University of New York schools with bowling teams, according to collegebowling.com. SUNY Albany and SUNY Institute of Technology in Utica are the others. The Bearcats had 25 bowlers on their 2019-20 roster.

Umiker was the top kegler for the Cardinals this winter, carrying a 195 regular-season average as NV finished second in IAC Division 1 with a 36-12 record and just two points behind Waverly. He finished sixth at the IAC championships with a 627 series and was seventh in the Section IV Class C tournament with a 567 series. He advanced to the state qualifier, where he rolled 1181 over six games, giving him a 1748 final score (the class sectional score is factored in).

College bowling is actually split into two seasons.

"They have a season during the fall and spring," Umiker said. "They have a lot more tournaments during the fall but they still have a season during the spring with a couple tournaments."

Umiker has been accepted at BU for the Spring 2021 semester and plans to major in Political Science.

"Ever since the 2016 election I have been captivated by the whole political process," he said. "I believe that we should have a country that works for all people and I'm excited to be a part of that process. The last five years of my life I have surrounded myself in politics and I've loved every second of it.

"After college I hope to become a campaign manager or take a crack at running for office myself."