Athlete Awards

Athlete of the Week

2011-Sonja Shirak

Sonja Shirak

  • Award
    Athlete of the Week
  • Week Of
    2/13/2012
  • Sport
    Women's Bowling
  • Bio
    View Full Bio
WEEK of: FEBRUARY 6-12, 2012
Freshman leadoff bowler Sonja Shirak (Clifton, NJ/Clifton) has been named the NJCU Women’s Athlete of the Week for the first time in her career after placing first overall in the individual standings while helping NJCU to a dominant effort at the Capital Classic. No. 10/10 ranked NJCU won its first 10 matches of the tournament and earned the #1 seed in the playoff bracket before falling in seven games in the finals.
 
A previous Northeast Conference Rookie of the Week on November 23, Shirak earned All-Tournament Team distinction and placed first overall in a field of 65 bowlers with total traditional wood of 1,045 for a 209.00 average and had 23 pins more than teammate Kelly Daunno in traditional play to give NJCU its first 1-2 finish in any tournament since the 2006 season.
 
Shirak posted an impressive 20.027 frame average and a filled frame average of 86.5 percent (96-of-110), a strike percentage of 47.5 percent (56-118) and a spare percentage of 83.3 percent (45-54). Her Baker pinfall was 1,158 and she collected total traditional and Baker combined pinfall of 2203. She only left 15 open frames in the entire tournament.
 
The tournament did not award an MVP but Shirak was the first NJCU player to finish first in the individual standings since the 2008 Music City Classic.
 
NJCU went a combined 10-1 in the tournament—its only loss in seven games in the tournament finals to Norfolk State University, a team it had defeated by 181 pins a day earlier.
 
On day one of the tournament on February 10, she didn’t start the opening match before finding herself in a prominent role for the rest of the tournament. She bowled in the No. 2 position in a win over Tulane University (760-515), the bridge position in the victory over Hampton University (738-681) and as the leadoff bowler against Morgan State University (749-606). NJCU went 4-0 on the day.
 
On day two of the tournament on February 11, NJCU went 5-0 and claimed first place by 214 pins over host Delaware State. Shirak had the best day of her career with three 200 games and all five scores above 190. Shirak fired a 225 in a 254-pin rout of Florida A&M University, 1042-788. In a win against Howard University (870-747), she rolled a 200, then uncorked a 231 in a dominant 1056-875 hammering of #13/14 Norfolk State. Shirak also logged a 195 against Bethune-Cookman University (932-831) and a 194 in a 917-893 defeat of #13/12 and host Delaware State.
 
Shirak was in the leadoff spot in all 12 Baker games during the bracket play portion of the tournament on February 12—a 4-1 win over Delaware State University to earn a bye into the finals, and a 4-3 loss to Norfolk State in the title match.



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