It was just a normal tournament that day as Nick Roth knocked down those pins in the first game. He totaled 245, which was exceptionally above his average of 195. He had an excellent game which he knew would help his team start. What he didn’t know at that point, he would go on to make Elder history.

Last weekend at the Holiday Classic Tournament, senior Nick Roth set a new school record for a three game series match.

Roth, a senior at Elder and captain of the team, recorded a massive score of 758 (245, 268, 245) in three games. The previous record was just one less pin at 757 set by Craig Sherril in 2008.

Roth’s big day in the lanes landed him first place individually in the tournament as he aided the Panthers to seventh place out of 34 teams.

“I was feeling good that day. I was bowling well,” Roth said. “I was well above my average but I didn’t even think about the record as it was going on. I knew I put my team in a good spot to start off. Hopefully I can keep it up.”

The rest of the team is just as impressive. They sport an eight man roster with five seniors. Roth, Andrew Price, Patrick Sullivan, Josh Guy, and Eddie Sievers are all returning varsity players sided by underclassmen Danny Sullivan, David Eubanks and Drew Robb.

As a whole, the team is neck and neck when it comes to individual skills. The scores they post alone are all right on top of each other, often times separated by only a strike or spare. The competition on the team helps push each member to the limits, which makes them strive to be the best they can be.

Against competition, they’ve been a tad inconsistent.

“At the beginning of the season, we haven’t been too consistent as far as team chemistry goes,” Andrew Price said.

In the first GCL Quad match, they came in third out of four teams. A week later in another GCL Quad, they came out on top. Josh Guy said that their only bad loss has been against St. Xavier, all the other matches they played well, just couldn’t pull them out.

“After the few first matches we really got it together,” Price said. “The pieces are starting to fall together for us as we head towards the middle of the season.”

The Panthers hope to stay just as consistent as they enter the latter half of the season behind Roth’s skills and leadership.