MIAMI GARDENS, FL. (December 23, 2020) - St. Thomas University (STU) Athletic Director Bill Rychel recently announced the intercollegiate sport of women's bowling will be added to the athletic roster, beginning in the fall 2021 semester.
 
"Women's bowling will be an exciting new sport for our varsity roster and is one that is gaining popularity at the national level," said Rychel. "We're proud to add Women's Bowling to create and provide more opportunities for student-athletes at STU."
 
Women's bowling is the seventh sport announced under the leadership of St. Thomas University President David A. Armstrong, J.D. Sports programs previously announced during his tenure include football, women's golf, men's and women's swimming & diving, men's wrestling, and women's flag football, within the total of 25 STU sports programs. The addition of the women's bowling program reinforces STU's commitment to provide student-athletes the opportunity to consider participation in a variety of competitive sports programs.
 
"We are excited to start Women's Bowling at St. Thomas University. It is a growing sport and a great opportunity to get more women involved in our athletic program," said President Armstrong. "This is the third bowling program that I've been a part of starting, I love the sport, and I love what it does for the student-athletes that participate."
 
STU Women's Bowling will compete in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) and Intercollegiate Team Championships (ITC) as part of the United States Bowling Congress (USBC). St. Thomas becomes the 54th NAIA institution to include Women's Bowling and the second NAIA university in Florida, after Webber International. 
 
"The continued growth of collegiate bowling is something we're proud of each year, and the introduction of a new bowling program can offer many benefits for both the school and student-athletes," International Bowling Campus Youth Development Managing Director Gary Brown said. "We're excited to see St. Thomas University debut its program at the start of the 2021 season."
 
STU Athletic Director Bill Rychel has named Malik Grove the first head coach in Bobcat Women's Bowling history.  Grove is currently the quarterback coach for St. Thomas University's football team.
 
Rychel added, "In my experience working with Malik, as a dual-sport student-athlete at Notre Dame College (OH.) and now professionally at STU, he is the perfect fit for this program; he is passionate about winning and competing at a high level."
 
Grove competed in football and bowling while at Notre Dame College. An accomplished bowler, Grove recorded four 300-point games, averages 220 per-game and was also a Team USA invitee for the National Bowling team before the event was canceled due to COVID-19 concerns. 
 
"I am excited to further my coaching experience and lead the Women's Bowling team at St. Thomas University in the program's inaugural season," said Grove. "Starting a new program has its challenges, but this is a great opportunity to 'pay-it-forward' to our student-athletes. We're going to continue building a positive culture here at St. Thomas and look forward to competing for championships."
 
About St. Thomas University 
St. Thomas is a Catholic University with rich cultural and international diversity committed to the academic and professional success of its students who become ethical leaders in our global community. The only Catholic Archdiocesan-sponsored university in Florida, STU is a private, non-profit university that offers 39 undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate degrees at its 144-acre campus in Miami Gardens, Fla., and through distance learning, including one of the oldest (and highly ranked) undergraduate programs in Sports Administration in the country. STU has been ranked #1 by U.S. News & World Report in Social Mobility for regional universities in the South, which means it takes students from the lowest financial strata and catapults them to much higher financial strata in only 10 years. For the last two years in a row, STU has recruited the largest incoming undergraduate classes in the university's history.