Yakima’s Kent sweeps college bowling awards

YAKIMA, Wash. — Marshall Kent’s remarkable year just keeps getting better.

The Yakima bowler’s freshman year at Robert Morris University in Chicago has yielded a rare sweep of the college awards, which were announced Wednesday.

Kent, 19, was named the men’s most valuable player, rookie of the year, a first team all-American and an academic all-American by the National Collegiate Bowling Coaches Association.

Kent

He was also selected the men’s player of the year by the Bowling Writers Association of America.

“I just came into this year trying to do the best I could and I got way more out of it than I could have asked for,” Kent said in a story posted on www.bowl.com. “I had a lot of help from my teammates this season. My mental game became about 10 times stronger this year, and that’s because my teammates helped me out a lot with that.”

Jim Kent, Marshall’s father, said this is the first time a bowler has been named MVP and top rookie in the same year.

“It’s just absolutely amazing. I’m speechless,” Jim Kent said. “I knew he had a great year but to sweep the awards ….”

Earlier this year, Kent won the United States Bowling Congress Team USA trials, making him just the second bowler from Washington to earn a spot on Team USA. He’s also a member of Junior Team USA.

As a result of that trials victory, Kent competed in the U.S. Open in February, and will take part in the World Championships in June as well as the represent the U.S. in the World Cup in November.

With Robert Morris, Kent won two individual tournament titles and has a 216.5 average heading into the USBC Intercollegiate Team Championships that began Thursday.

Robert Morris is the top-ranked team in the field of 16. There were 24 Baker games Thursday to determine seeding for match play that begins today and continues through Sunday.