Stephanie Farley

Kelly Zapf, of Rochester, N.Y., is in a league of her own on the KU women’s bowling team — she’s the only senior. In her time at the University of Kansas, Zapf has received an honorable mention All-American in 2004. Zapf works at the Jaybowl in the Kansas Union.

The lone senior on the KU women’s bowling team, Kelly Zapf, has been building her resume. She’s received an All-American honorable mention in 2004, and she was a member of fourth and fifth finishing bowling teams at the past two Intercollegiate Bowling Championships. She’ll soon add to that a trip to her third championship this April.

Zapf, a Rochester, N.Y., native, has been a member of the women’s varsity team four years. She chose to come to the University of Kansas because her best friend, Marc D’Errico, a former KU bowler who won nationals last year, recruited her to join the bowling team.

“He and coach Mike Fine gave me a call on the phone, and I came out to visit and fell in love with the place,” Zapf said.

She said being the only bowler on the team who had not been to nationals every year had helped her with how she approached the competition. In her freshman year, the team suffered from injuries and academic concerns that kept the team from going to the championship.

“We went from having the potential to make it to nationals to ‘when is the season going to be over with?’ type of mentality,” Zapf said.

Though a national championship has eluded Zapf, she said her favorite memory in the past four years was when the men’s team won the title last year.

“It just proved that Wichita State is not the only team in Kansas that has a great bowling program,” Zapf said.

When Zapf leaves at the end of the year, the team will have a hole at the anchor position. She took on the role last year and has contributed to the team’s success.

“The last two years, that’s what has gotten us as far as we have gone,” junior Sarah Roenfeldt said. “There is a lot of pressure on you when you are in that position.”

Losing Zapf’s knowledge of different tournaments and lane conditions will be difficult for the team, freshman Nikki Johannes said.

Zapf will stay at the University for a fifth year to finish her social welfare degree, and will still be a presence on the bowling team. She plans to help the team with the transition to a new coach and also recruit for the women’s team.

Aside from working with the team, she also looks forward to bowling in outside tournaments. She was not able to compete in many tournaments because of school, work and KU bowling.