June 13, 2018 at 12:59 p.m.
State champ Bloomquist to bowl at Mount Mercy
State champ Bloomquist to bowl at Mount Mercy
That dream officially became a reality on Tuesday as Bloomquist signed to bowl at Mount Mercy University in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Bloomquist was trying to get the word out about his game, but the recruiting trail went crazy after he qualified for the singles portion of the state tournament and then defeated Sun Prairie's Austin Est 193-172 in the championship match.
"All of a sudden colleges just came knocking on my door," Bloomquist said Tuesday. "One after another, after another, after another (were saying) 'Come take a look at our school.' So many people were so open because they saw the accomplishment."
One of the coaches who expressed interest was Mount Mercy's Andy Diercks, who first saw a video of Bloomquist's game online.
"I did see video on Facebook, a high school bowling recruiting page, and I saw his video," he said. "As a coach, the truth is, I don't really look so much at scores, rather their poise, confidence and their physical game. He looked like he had a game we could work with and improve it even more. I think he'll be an asset to the team for sure."
Mount Mercy came on the scene relatively late in the recruiting process. Bloomquist said he had already been accepted to Notre Dame College in Ohio and 2018 national men's team runner-up Robert Morris University in Chicago had expressed interest. But a tour of Mount Mercy and a chance to meet the players quickly swayed Bloomquist's mind.
"The first thought was 'this feels like home,'" he said. "It was so much smaller, so much more like Rhinelander. It was a lot more comfortable. I got back in the car and it's like, 'This is me. This is where I want to go.' ... After we got done with the list, we filled out the paperwork and were getting ready to go down to school there."
Bloomquist is the second bowler from the Rhinelander-based high school club team in the last three years to go on to bowl collegiately, joining Three Lakes' Tommy Strauss, who bowls for Midland University in Texas.
"It's great that their pursuing it. That's my goal, to have these kids continue in the sport but get an education," Rhinelander coach Mike Bourcier said. "I'm hoping that all of them go to college, first of all, to get an education but, second of all, I hope they all want to pick bowling as their main sport to do."
Bloomquist and Diercks are already working together as athlete and coach. Prior to Tuesday's press conference at Hodag Lanes, Diercks was working with Bloomquist on his approach.
"He's already taught me so many things. He's given my so many opportunities," Bloomquist said. "Working here at the lanes with him for only a few minutes even will give me five weeks to two months of stuff to work on. That will put me another step ahead as I walk into college."
Bourcier called Bloomquist a student of the game, something that should serve the Hodag senior well at the next level.
"His desire to learn I think is a big thing," he said. "If you come in and say, 'Hey, I'm good at this, but I've got a lot to learn, I want to learn,' that's going to be the biggest trait to make him excel. He's going to adjust. He's going to train. He has a coach that has great knowledge, coaches Team USA. He's going to go to Darin and Darin's going to be able to learn that, absorb that and go."
That passion caught Diercks' eye as well.
"He's an incredibly passionate bowler," Diercks said. "The college season is really long, really grueling. It's hard work and it's very easy to find bowlers who like to bowl, but it's more difficult to find bowlers who love to bowl, who live and breathe the sport and really put in what it takes to really be a successful college bowler."
Bowling is a relatively new sport at Mount Mercy. The program is entering its eighth year and Diercks is beginning his fourth season at the helm. The Mount Mercy men finished 14th at a USBC Collegiate sectional qualifier in Illinois in March.
"We're really building something special there," Diercks said. "We have a lot of support from administration, who really believe in the sport as to what it can offer. The type of student-athletes we recruit have really been beneficial to the institution as a whole."
"I'm really excited to learn from the team and help and be an asset to the team as well," Bloomquist added. "I don't think I'm going to come in and be top dog right away. It's something I'll have to work at. I don't want to show up and lead a team. I want to show up, learn and progress my way into leading a team."
Bloomquist thanked his parents, coaches and Hodag Lanes, among others, for their support during his high school bowling career.
"There's so many more people. I could thank through the whole men's league," he said. "The support I had in Rhinelander. The support I had all through middle school and high school is going to help me become a really great bowler."
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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