Linn-Mar senior Stacey Schwarzenstein on Monday became among the first recruits for the men’s and women’s bowling program at Iowa Central Community College. The Fort Dodge school will begin intercollegiate competition next fall.

Schwarzenstein, the leading bowler for the Lions this year with a 181 average, signed a letter of intent Monday afternoon at the Cedar Rapids Bowling Center, along with Iowa Central Athletic Director Rick Sandquist and  sports camp coordinator and assistant softball coach Gregg Haden. The two school officials were on a swing throughout Eastern Iowa
Monday signing their first handful of scholarship athletes for the new bowling  program.

Schwarzenstein is only Metro bowler to sign with school so far. She said she had considered attending other colleges next year before she was approached by Iowa Central after this year’s high school bowling season.

“I really hadn’t thought about bowling in college,” she said. “But then when they said they would actually give me a scholarship for it, I was excited. I’ve been bowling since I was a little tyke, and I love it.”

While neither she nor her team qualified for the state  tournament this year, she finished eighth individually last year after winning the Class 2A district title. The Lions also finished eighth as a team.

“In bowling, it’s pretty easy to see who has talent,” said Haden, who will share men’s and women’s coaching duties with Sandquist. “You look at their scores. And Stacey can score. We think she’ll do very well.”

Haden said the Triton teams will enter at least 10 tournaments, the minimum required to compete in the national junior college tournament in Buffalo, N.Y., next March.

“Our goal is to finish in the top five,” he said.

Iowa Central will be the only two-year  school in Iowa to offer a bowling program. Haden said there are about 20 junior college teams in the United States (mostly on the East Coast) and 200-or-so college programs.

“It’s a growing sport,” he said.  “Just three years ago, there were about 140 colleges.”

The Tritons will  compete in tournaments against colleges from all levels, from junior college to Division I four-year schools. Haden said it is anticipated that Iowa Central will have as many as 25 men and women on each of its rosters, about a third of them like Schwarzenstein, on partial scholarships. The bowling teams will give the school 23 sports.

Several Metro high school athletes, including former Jefferson star softball player Morgan Allee, are scholarship athletes at Iowa Central. The college board of directors approved adding bowling to the sports program in January, so Haden said he and Sandquist spent the spring attending high school matches all over the state looking for talent.

“We hit the ground running,” he said. “We’re under the gun to get things going.”

Stacey, the 17-year-old daughter of Hilaria and Wes Schwarzenstein of Marion, said she plans to major in business and then perhaps transfer to a four-year school.

“I’m a little nervous,” she said Monday. “For them to take a chance on me with a brand-new program, I don’t want to let them down.”