The MEAC has a strong case that it is the top bowling conference in the nation.

It has two teams - 2010 conference tournament champion Delaware State and runner-up Maryland Eastern Shore - in the NCAA Championships, which begins Thursday in North Brunswick, N.J. It is the fourth time in the seven-year history of the championship that the MEAC has had two representatives in the eight-team field.

What's more, Maryland Eastern Shore, ranked number one in the National Tenpins Coaches Association (NTCA) poll and the 2008 National Champion, has appeared in all seven Championships including this year's berth. Nebraska, New Jersey City and Central Arkansas are the only other schools that can make that claim. Delaware State is No. 5 in the rankings and is making its second consecutive postseason appearance after winning back-to-back MEAC crowns.

 "The quality of bowling in the MEAC is tremendous,'' first-year Delaware State coach Ricki Williams-Ellison says. "Having two teams in the championships says tremendous things about the conference.''

Other schools in the field are Arkansas State, Central Missouri, Fairleigh Dickinson, Nebraska - the defending champion - New Jersey City and Vanderbilt.

The MEAC has long been at the forefront of bowling. The NCAA gave bowling "emerging sport'' status in the conference on Sept. 1, 1994.

Two years later, the MEAC became the first conference to secure NCAA sanctioning for bowling. In 1999, the conference officially sanctioned bowling as a sport and held championship competition. The NCAA didn't hold its first championship until 2004.

"The MEAC was one of the pioneering conferences in bowling,'' Hampton athletic director Lonza Hardy Jr. Says. "It's not living on that legacy but adding to it by taking the sport seriously. While other conferences have taken on the sport and are showing what they can do, MEAC is continuing to add to its legacy by having multiple teams in the Championships.''

Hardy says bowling is a microcosm of the conference's overall support and commitment to all of its athletic programs.

 "When you have sport like bowling with two teams in the National Championships, it shows the emphasis the MEAC places on all sports, revenue and non-revenue, men and women,'' Hardy says. "It shows the commitment of MEAC universities to all sports regardless of their visibility. Even a sport like bowling is getting quality student-athletes and they are being coached by the best coaches in the country.'' 

Williams-Ellison says the support that bowling gets from the conference office is a huge factor in conference members' ability to be competitive among themselves and nationally.

"They are determined in helping us as much possible,'' she says. "They make sure we get enough games in; they make sure we are seeing quality competition, and they allow us a format that helps us compete in the NCAA (Championship).''

Williams-Ellison says the steady diet of stiff competition in the conference helped keep the Lady Hornets sharp and was a huge factor in their high national ranking.

  "Seeing the best in the NCAA was a benefit,'' she says. "We learned a lot from competing against such high level opponents. It helped us learn who we are and who we wanted to be.''

Williams-Ellison guided the Lady Hornets back to the NCAA Championship after last October succeeding Kim Terrell-Kearney, who led them to their first MEAC title and postseason appearance in 2009. She says a conversation with Terrell-Kearney, who left Delaware State fir a position with the United States Bowling Congress in Arlington, Texas, led her to believe the Lady Hornets were capable of repeating as MEAC champs and returning to the NCAA Championships.

"It was a goal, not an expectation,'' she says. "I didn't want to get ahead of ourselves, especially this being my first year. I wanted to take it one tournament at a time, but it was in the back of our minds. The key was our consistent fight. We were always working and practicing. The ladies were always at the lane, whether it was practice or on their own. They were always hitting it and learning more about the game. That helped us all get better.''

Williams-Ellison is an accomplished bowler in her own right. She was a member of the USA Jr. National Team that competed in the 2008 World Youth Championships. She also competed for three seasons at Wichita State and was a member of the squad that won the 2008 Intercollegiate Team National Championship. Williams-Ellison competed as an amateur in the 2005 USBC Queens Tournament against a field that included Terrell-Kearney among other professionals.

Williams-Ellison credits Terrell-Kearney and her fellow coaches in the MEAC with helping make her transition from competitor to coach a relatively smooth one.

"All the coaches in the MEAC started a bond with me,'' she says. "I can ask any of them for help.''