Ison wins first career event at AHBA No. 3

Zach Ison is quickly building up one of the finest individual résumés on either side of the Shawnee State bowling spectrum.

During his first season with the program in 2023-24, Ison bowled the first 300 game for either program, was a part of the first-ever team victory at the Greater Pittsburgh Collegiate Classic along with many of his current Shawnee State teammates, and helped lead SSU to a United States Bowling Congress Sectional appearance for the second time in the history of the Shawnee State men's bowling squad.

His sophomore campaign is looking like it will have similar results.

Ison ripped off an outstanding performance at the American Heartland Bowling Association's Event No. 3 Saturday, as the sophomore from Hillsboro dropped 938 pins over four games for a blistering average that was enough to defeat second-place finisher Lane Marlatt by 15 pins, giving Ison his first career individual event victory while leading the Bears to a third-place finish as a team in the seven-unit field at Cedar Lanes in Sandusky on Saturday.

Ison, who bowled no lower than 210 on any individual frame, established himself as a contender throughout the day by posting a strong 243 in Game 1 and a 226 that followed in the second game.

His best, however, was yet to come. Rocketing out of the gate in Game 3, Ison posted a massive 259-pin output over the 10 frames available in that rack, and finished off the day with a 210 in Game 4 to put down a massive 234.5 pin average that was easily the best in the entire 47-bowler field. Ison was also the only bowler on Saturday to post two rounds with over 235 pins dropped in an impressive out-and-out display by the young gunner.

Like Ison, senior bowler Sam Clay also continued to build on a promising year with a fantastic display of his own. Bowling an 867 over his own four-game series, Clay dropped 204 pins in Game 1, then fired marks of 233 and 235 pins in Games 2 and 3, respectively before finishing the day with a 195 in Game 4.

Clay, who averaged 216.75 pins per rack, was one of just four bowlers to post at least two games of 230 or more pins dropped on the day.

A promising young gun from Goldsboro, N.C., Jaylen Sumler built on his own strong start to the year with an 11th place finish, dropping 775 pins over four games to collect a 193.75 pin average. Sumler posted a 209 in Game 2, dropped 198 markers in Game 1 and collected 183 and 185 pins in Games 3 and 4, respectively en route to an 11th-place showing.

Khoury Carroll-Tanner, Parker Lauders, Blake Landers and Rece Allen also contributed to Shawnee State's pin total Saturday, with Carroll-Tanner's 182 in Game 4 being the best of the remaining group. Carroll-Tanner, a native of Waldorf, Md., finished 24th in the event.

As a team, Shawnee State finished the day by accumulating 5,781 pins as a group. The Bears outbowled Bowling Green, Olivet Nazarene (Ill.), Adrian (Mich.) and Saginaw Valley State (Mich.) in doing so.

Shawnee State will be back in action next weekend at the two-day Raider Classic, which will be held at the Beaver-Vu Bowl in Beavercreek and Poelking Lanes in Dayton, on Saturday, Nov. 9 and Sunday, Nov. 10. Updates throughout will follow at www.ssubears.com and on SSU Bears’ social media outlets.

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