MOUNT VERNON — While there was no glass slipper, no golden pumpkin carriage, or fairy godmother, there was a Cinderella story at the Colonial City Lanes for the 2026 Mount Vernon Nazarene University Cougar Classic on Saturday.
The Hilliard Bradley boys bowling team came in as the fifth seed.
“This means that they barely made the cut for the tournament,” explained Amber Brubaker, co-head bowling coach at Mount Vernon Nazarene University.
The trophy case for the Jaguars will be a bit more crowded as the fifth-seeded boys and the first-seeded girls teams both boarded their buses with first-place hardware.
“I don’t think many people understand the physical and psychological strain that kind of grinding puts on these athletes,” Brubaker continued.
With snow blowing outside, 17 high school bowling teams created plenty of heat inside Mount Vernon’s Colonial City Lanes.
Mount Vernon placed fifth overall.
BAKER GAMES
For the novice, as if scoring were not complicated enough, Frank K Baker, former secretary of the American Bowling Conference, added a new twist in the mid-1950’s. The Baker Games resemble a combination of a relay in track and a golf scramble.
Five bowlers comprise a team. The first bowler rolls frame number one, bowler two the second frame and the progression continues, through frame number five, and the process starts over through the tenth frame.
“Since the Baker Games are formatted the way they are, the crowd can get very loud,” explained Amber Brubaker, a co-head coach of the MVNU Bowling team.
FAMILY AFFAIR
As Brubaker explained the nuances of the Baker Games, the other half of the coaching duo walked up to the Control Desk.
“This is my dad, Ron Garlinger, we have been coaching together for 22 years,” she said.
The younger coach let it slip that the tournament was being contested on a special day.
“Today is his birthday,” she said, pointing at her dad. “Coaching with her keeps me out of trouble,” Garlinger said.
While he declined to disclose the number of candles on his cake, he did admit.
“I’m probably too old to get into much trouble anyway.”
The pair has left a legacy on the lanes. For fifteen years, they coached at Highland High School.
“We started that program, and it is still going,” Brubaker said. “We have been here at the Naz for eight years, we started this program as well.”