The LSU Bowling Club made club history this weekend when both the men’s and women’s teams competed in their first United States Bowling Congress’s Intercollegiate Team Sectionals tournament since 1975. The club finished 15th in its sectional, held in Chattanooga, Tenn., but Brian Kelley, LSU Bowling Club member, said the club played well for its first appearance at sectionals in 34 years.”We could’ve done better, but there was a lot of tough competition,” Kelley said. “It was fun, though.” Though the club did not play as well as it hoped, Troy Glorioso, club president, said competing in sectionals provided a good learning experience for the club.”We came out of this with something, not empty-handed. Through this experience, we were able to come out with more confidence in ourselves,” Glorioso said. “We were able to see how other more-seasoned teams prepare physically and mentally for big tournaments.”Teams must rank in the top-64 teams in the nation to be invited to compete in the sectionals tournament, dubbed by club members as “the college bowling version of March Madness.”   “That number may appear somewhat large, but when you think about all the colleges across the country that have a bowling club, it’s actually a pretty elite club,” Glorioso said. The club competed in three tournaments this season within its conference – the Southwest Intercollegiate Bowling Conference – which includes teams from Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Oklahoma University and University of Louisiana at Lafayette. The club also competed in three national tournaments this season in Atlanta and Las Vegas. The points earned from these competitions decided the team’s ranking and advancement to sectionals. Teams invited to sectionals competed in one of four different cities: Allentown, Pa., Chattanooga, Tenn., St. Louis, Mo., and Las Vegas, Nev. The top-four teams from each city will advance to the USBC Intercollegiate Team Championship in Rockford, Ill., April 15 to 18. Ohio State, Purdue and Central Florida are among the teams the club competed against in their sectional.  To prepare for its first appearance at sectionals, the club made the most out of its Monday and Wednesday practices, which last at least two hours each. “It’s not so much the time — it’s more the time wasted,” Glorioso said. “We always have fun at practice, but for this one tournament, being that we’re in a position we’re not comfortable or familiar with, we really just wanted to get the most out of it.” Glorioso said he is ecstatic the team made it to sectionals. “I know what kind of a team we have, and I know that in the past few years, doing something like this was looked at as a stretch, something that probably would never happen,” Glorioso said. “It’s not a daydream anymore.” Established in the 1970s, the club is open to any student who wants to compete or play recreationally. Blair LeBlanc, head coach, said the club has really grown this year. “This is the first year we have a separate men’s and women’s team. We have 15 people between the two teams, so the team has really grown in one year,” LeBlanc said.  Tony Radesky, senior club member, said the club is also much different from what it was like four years ago. “When I was a freshman, we only competed in one tournament the entire year, practiced maybe once a week, and we were dead last,” Radesky said.  Students interested in the club are encouraged to contact the club at [email protected].”Being on the team is a great way to get to know people, and this year’s team has been the closet group of people I’ve been with,” said club member Jacob Cook. “It’s not so much a team as much it is a family.”—-Contact Brianna Paciorka at [email protected]