Gerken earns All-Heart First Team as Pride bowling wraps up Heart Tournament play

OSKALOOSA, Iowa - Ending their February at the Heart of America Athletic Conference Championships, the Clarke University bowling teams closed out with a seventh place finish from the men and a sixth place finish from the women.

The hightlight of the tournament was that senior Kassidy Gerken earned All-Heart First Team honors, leading the Pride all season on the lanes as their highest scorer on average. The women were competing a player short on their team scores so they finished in sixth after the team portion to determine seeding concluded and dropped their first bracket match via forfeit to Grand View before falling in the elimination bracket to Peru State to end their tournament.

The men's team was seeded sixth after the team scoring portion as fifth, sixth, and seventh were all separated by just 36 total pins as Clarke would match up with Culver-Stockton in their opening bracket match, where they would fall to the Wildcats 3-1 before then dropping the elimination bracket match by the same score to Baker University.

Clarke's participation in the Heart Tournament was their final scheduled event to date as some individuals will look toward the offseason and others will prepare for potential selection to USBC Sectional competition.