Oberlin’s intercollegiate bowling team competed in back-to-back marathon conference meets in Toledo last weekend, with separate squads squaring off against each other once.

At Ottawa Lanes on Saturday, the Yeo-bowlers finished 17th in a field of 19 teams, beating Bowling Green State University and Kent State University’s “C” squad.

Senior Andrew Falk led Oberlin’s bowlers with a 187 average for six games, including a high score of 224. He finished in 59th place out of 104 contestants overall.

Senior Justin Heiman was close behind in 64th place, with a 219 high game and 182 average.

Senior Adam Freeman and junior Adam Carlson contributed scores of 200 and 194, respectively, to the team’s five bowler opening game of 878.

The American Heartland Bowling Conference sponsored the meet, which included six full team games followed by 16 Baker games. In Baker games, each bowler rolls two of a single game’s ten frames.

The Oberlin squad excelled during the Baker matches. In a close finish against Youngstown State University, a team in the hunt for the title until the very end, Falk struck in the ninth frame and Heiman rolled the first strike in the tenth frame to seal the win for Oberlin.

At that point, one of Youngstown’s players lost his composure and began slamming bowling balls around. As he was reprimanded by his coach, Heiman calmly finished the tenth frame with two more strikes. Youngstown State finished fourth.

Oberlin entered two mixed (co-ed) teams in Sunday’s conference meet at Southwyck Lanes, and both squads finished 15th, ahead of the University of Notre Dame.

Heiman and Falk again led all Oberlin bowlers. Heiman was 39th among the 90 men’s division contestants with a 195 average on the strength of consecutive scores of 241 and 237 in the third and fourth games. Falk’s average of 191 included individual tallies of 243, 231 and 214, good for 45th place overall.

Falk also had a shining moment when he handed a bowler from Saginaw Valley State University a conference powerhouse his first individual match point loss of the weekend.

Sophomore Todd Ares notched a sixth game score of 201.

First-year Marne Litfin led Oberlin’s women with a 153 average, 10th among 28 women competing in the event. Junior Jessy Bradish opened with a 182, the best single game score posted by Oberlin’s women.

Oberlin’s best team score of the event was a 942 (including Heiman’s 237 and Falk’s 231) posted by the “A” squad in the fourth game.

Again on Sunday, the Oberlin squad saved their most exciting moments for the Baker matches.

Facing the University of Toledo in the first four-game Baker match, Oberlin’s “A” squad was trailing late in the second game. But junior Tom Hartman struck in the eighth frame and Heiman followed suit in the ninth, setting up Falk’s game-winning (183-172) strike on the first shot of the tenth frame.

In the next game, Heiman and Falk struck out in the ninth and tenth frames for another come-from-behind victory (163-147) over Toledo.

Oberlin’s “B” squad also found some late-frame glory against the intrastate rival University of Toledo bowlers.

In the sixth overall Baker game, sophomore Todd Ares struck in the ninth and senior (and newest team member) Lance Libby felled all ten pins on his first roll of the tenth frame to seal a 156-152 comeback win.

The Oberlin teams faced each other in the third round of Baker matches. The “B” squad prevailed by a 195-155 tally in game 11, putting themselves in position to beat the “A” team, when Falk struck twice in the tenth to salvage a 144-135 win for the “A” bowlers.

The Oberlin bowlers culminate their season at the conference championships, held on Feb. 7 in Columbus, Ohio.

Tom Reid is the coach of Oberlin’s intercollegiate bowling squad.