Two Oklahoma Christian University bowling team members, junior Christopher “CJ” Petrin and sophomore Tori Justice, tried out for Team USA earlier this year. Graduate student and former assistant coach Claire McDermott described the players.
“They’re fun to be around,” McDermott said. “They’re always cracking jokes, keeping the energy up.”
McDermott also highlighted the leadership skills of both members.
“When we’re in a competition and we seem a little down, CJ is always trying to hype up the guys,” McDermott said. “The same goes for Tori, she’s just trying to hype up the girls a little bit.”
McDermott spoke about the potential the two Eagles had.
“I’m just looking forward to them doing what they’re doing and helping the team out,” McDermott said. “They’re doing great right now. If they keep their confidence up and keep doing what they’re doing, we’ll all be good on the team side of things.”
For Petrin, the tryout was a place of familiarity.
“For me, it’s kind of the same as the past couple of years, the main goal is just trying to make the team on a day by day process,” Petrin said. “Every day provides different tournaments with different point systems. So going in each day, you have to have a clear mindset. Forget about the past, and try to move forward.”
Petrin went on to discuss how the lanes compared to previous tryouts.
“The past few years I bowled, the patterns were harder than other competitions,” Petrin said. “This year, they were a little bit softer. I had the assumption the pattern would be harder, and I was going to be able to align that with my game, but they were a little bit easier, and I just didn’t put up the scores that the other guys were putting up.”
When asked what he learned from the experience, Petrin had a very simple takeaway.
“I definitely need to make my spares,” Petrin said. “I had a couple of mishaps the first week of January. Once I got back to school, that was the main practice. That, timing issues and some issues with physical game parts but the big thing was spares this week and shot repeatability.”
Looking towards the collegiate scene, Petrin showed optimism, particularly for the patterns.
“The patterns are a lot easier in college,” Petrin said. “So my scores will show how I actually bowl. I’m just ready to be with the guys on the team and help out, maybe even improve on how bad we did the first semester. Just make that turn around.”
Petrin has two goals: one personal and one team oriented.
“Bowler of the year is still a possibility for me,” Petrin said. “That’s the main thing. After that, we want to go back to nationals as a team. We made it my freshman year, but last year we couldn’t make it out of the section.”
While Petrin had competed at that level before, all of it was new for Tori Justice.
“I was really nervous; I had never been there before, so I didn’t know what to expect,” Justice said. “Whenever I got there, I was kind of off the rocker for a little bit.”
Justice explained how her individual performance at the tryout left her disappointed.
“My assumption was that I was gonna do better than I did,” Justice said. “I didn’t expect to get last or first because I hadn’t been there yet. I really didn’t know what was going on, so I had to just feel it out. But we’ll know better for next year.”
Justice’s takeaway was to focus on making the same shot in consecutive takes.
“My big takeaway was shot repeatability,” Justice said. “That and clearing my head and not getting anxious about everything.”
Being back at Oklahoma Christian is exciting for Justice, as she gets to be with friends and travel across the nation while competing.
“I’m excited we get to go everywhere since we are never close to home,” Justice said. “See all the friends I made and have fun with my team. Hopefully, we do very well.”
While Justice aspires to compete at the national level, she also aims to compete well in the Eagle’s inaugural season in the NCAA.
“One goal for us is to just get our record to be a lot better,” Justice said. “This is our first year in the NCAA and we can get anxious and nervous since every match counts. So for us, we want to relax.”
While neither Petrin or Justice qualified, a former bowling team member made the roster for Team USA. Justice explained the fellow sophomore’s situation.
“Kaylee Beck made the team, though she’s not on the bowling team anymore,” Justice said. “But she qualified for it and made the junior team.”
The men’s team will compete on Jan. 20 and 21 at SWIBC V and VI in Plano, Texas, while the women’s team will play at Sacred Heart University Jan. 19-21 in Deptford, New Jersey. You can watch Facebook live streams of the competition from Justice’s, Petrin’s and sophomore Caleb Kelly’s accounts.
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