WICHITA, Kan. — Thashaina Seraus, the first-year star of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) women’s bowling team, picked up another pair of awards this past week at the “Night of Champions” Banquet held prior to the start of the annual United States Bowling Congress (USBC) Intercollegiate Team Championships.
Seraus was named an Honorable Mention All-America selection by the National Collegiate Bowling Coaches Association (NCBCA). Seraus was one of just 15 women in the nation honored by the NCBCA with the All-America distinction.
The NCBCA honored Wichita State’s Daria Kovalova as its Most Valuable Player of the season and along with Sabrena Davis of Midland, Katelyn Simpson of Pikeville, Brittany Smith of Grand View and Shannon Dewitt of Wright State were all named First-Team All-America selections.
Brianna Larson of Pikeville, Rachael Albright of Ursuline, Destiny Harper of Emmanuel, Sydney Brummett of Wichita State and Stephanie Cieslewicz of Robert-Morris-Illinois were second team selections.
Seraus was joined on the Honorable Mention team with Fallon Tallman of Pikeville, Stephanie Schwartz of Stephen F. Austin, Shelby Fromm of Pikeville and Kamilah Dammers of Webber International.
Both Seraus and Dammers are both from Aruba, giving the small nation two All-Americans in the sport.
Seraus, Schwartz and Albright were the only NCAA bowlers honored while Brummett edged out Seraus for the Rookie of the Year. Pikeville’s Ron Damron was named the National Coach of the Year. Damron was the head coach of UMES’ head coach, Kayla Bandy when she bowled collegiately.
Seraus is the first NCBCA All-America selection since both Maria Rodriguez and Kristina Frahm earned the award in 2011.
Seraus also earned a top honor from the International Bowling Media Association (IBMA). She was named a finalist earlier in the month for the Collegiate Bowler of the Year Award, given out by the IBMA. That award also went to Kovalova. Dewitt, Davis, Simpson and Smith all were named Runner-Up to the honor, matching the NCBCA’s First-Team All-Americans.
Seraus was joined by Albright and Larson as Honorable Mention selections by the IBMA.
Other notable UMES bowlers who have been finalists for the award include Anggie Ramirez who was a runner-up in 2013, T’nia Falbo who was Honorable Mention in 2012 and Rodriguez who was the runner-up in 2011.
The IBMA College Bowler of the Year Award is given each season to the male and female bowlers who excel on the lanes in USBC officially certified tournament play. Players must have a cumulative 32 games in to be considered for the award. Many professional and high-ranking amateur bowlers have received the award which was established in 1987 to honor the sport’s finest young players and bring media attention to college bowling.
Notable past winners of the award include UMES’ own Coach Bandy who won twice when bowling for Pikeville. Others include: Chris Barnes, Lynda Norry Barnes (2), Josh Blanchard, Joe Ciccone, PJ Haggerty (3), A.J. Johnson, Liz Johnson, Marshall Kent, Steve Kloempken, Kelly Kulick (2), Dan MacLelland (2), Bill O’Neil (3), Missy Belinder Parkin, Shannon Pluhowsky, Rick Steelsmith and Jazreel Tan.
The awards give Searus a trio of All-America awards on the season as she was named a National Tenpins Coaches Association (NTCA) First-Team All-America honoree. That give UMES Bowling four in total with senior Marianna Alvardao (Leon, Mexico) earning NTCA Second-Team honors as well.
Seraus had quite a first year of collegiate bowling. She ranked second overall in team game average in the country with just under a 211 average. She was named the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Rookie of the Year, a First-Team selection, to the league championship All-Tournament Team and was the MEAC Championship Most Outstanding Performer. She helped the Hawks capture their third consecutive conference title in mid-March.
She was named to five All-Tournament Teams, was MVP of the SFA Jacks Invitational, earned six Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) Rookie of the Week honors and three MEAC Bowler of the Week honors. Besides being second in the nation in team game average only to NTCA Player of the Year Liz Kuhlkin of Nebraska, who averaged an impressive 219. Seraus was third in Field Differential and third in percentage of field beaten. She was second again in Khulkin top 40 finishes and posted 9 top 25 field finishes, including four top fives and seven top 10s.
Along with teammate Melanie Copey, Seraus will lead the charge next season for UMES Bowling as the only two returning players on the team.