The Penguins joined the Southland Bowling League earlier this month, and the SBL Championships will be held on March 22-24 in Dallas, Texas. Prior to that, YSU will compete in four regular-season tournaments in the fall and four more in the spring. The Penguins will also have the chance to bowl at the USBC Sectionals the second weekend of March.
"Our schedule is going to look a little different this year," Gilliam said. "We have added a few new tournaments to balance our schedule out a little. We will still have a very tough schedule and compete against all of the top teams. I feel this year is going to be even better for our program. Now that we have a couple of seasons under our belt, we know what to expect and what we need to do to be at the top of our game."
Just as it has the previous two years, the Penguins will begin the campaign at the Bud Whitman Memorial in Reading, Pa., on Oct. 13-14. YSU will then bowl three straight weekends in November at the Track Kat Klash (Houston, Texas), the Warhawk Classic (Milwaukee, Wis.) and the Hawk Classic Invitational (Millsboro, Del.). The Warhawk Classic and the Hawk Classic Invitational will both be new tournaments for Youngstown State.
Exactly two months after the conclusion of the Hawk Classic Invitational, YSU's spring slate will begin at the KU Invitational (Limerick, Pa.). The Penguins will then head to the Orlando area on Feb. 8-10 for the Sunshine State Winter Classic in their only tournament of the month. March is the busiest month on the schedule with the Hawk Flight Invite (Egg Harbor Township, N.J.), USBC Sectionals, the Music City Classic (Smyrna, Tenn.) and the SBL Championships (Dallas, Texas) in four consecutive weekends.
The NCAA Championships will be April 11-13 at RollHouse Wickliffe in Wickliffe, Ohio, and the USBC Championships will be at Poelking Lanes South in Dayton, Ohio.