Coming off of a fourth-place finish at the National Team Match Games and a second-place finish at the Shippensburg Classic, the Penn State men's bowling club has moved up to No. 8 in the national collegiate rankings.

After starting out the season strong with a second-place finish at the Penn State Classic and a seventh-place finish at the Brunswick Southern Classic, the team hopes to maintain its high level of play as it reaches the middle of its season.

While there was a time when Penn State bowling underachieved, all of that changed when its coach of three years, Andy Neuer took over the position. Neuer, a former player on the Professional Bowlers Association (PBA) tour taught the young players how to improve and become better as a team.

"Andy has helped us tremendously so far in teaching us how to throw the ball properly and how to play the lanes," bowling club president Carl Smoyer said.

The clubs recent successes are not only because of Neuer, but also because of the growth in team camaraderie and team chemistry.

"We have been fortunate enough to have the same core group of guys here for the last three years, so all the experience combined with steady improvement has got us where we are today," Smoyer said.

This core group of players includes four returning starters, senior Kevin Kurtz, senior Carl Smoyer, junior Tom Cannella, and junior Jason Weaver.

Neuer feels that much of the progress of the team is due to this nucleus of players that still remain.

"Each has progressed and matured, overcoming their individual hurdles," Neuer said. "They have made tremendous advances in focus to maintain a winning mentality."

This ability to maintain focus has been needed, because most of the schools Penn State competes against award scholarships to bowlers.

"The fact that we are consistently beating scholarship programs tells me that they bowl with an underlying purpose to earn respect from those elite programs, which they are getting after each tournament," Neuer said.

While the team has been able to make a name for itself throughout the collegiate circuit, there is still much to be accomplished with more than half the season still remaining.

Every year, the team hopes to qualify for the Intercollegiate Bowling Championships (IBC), which are determined by a sectional tournament at the end of March and one day win a national championship.