NORWICH – Very seldom does a native from our humble upstate county succeed to the far reaches of national recognition but as fate would have it, one man from Norwich managed to put his expertise and passion for sport to task to do just that.
Recently, The Sam Houston State University Bearkats won the 2014 NCAA Women’s Bowling National Championship, defeating defending champion Nebraska in six games.
The title win is the first in any sport for the Bearkats in the 28 years since the team moved to Division I in 1986. Couple that with the fact that the women's bowling team win is its first title in just its fourth year of existence, let alone Sam Houston’s first NCAA title in any sport, and the perplexity begins to take hold.
Leading the lady 'Kats to national victory is the local denominator, said Brad Hagen.
Hagen, a Norwich High class of 2001 graduate, acceded early on at the varsity levels in both golf and bowling.
Under the direction of bowling coach John McCumsky and Golf coach Bob Branham, Hagen heeded countless lessons both during and after gameplay that would hew his coaching character and success.
“They believed in the 'process' as head coaches. They were able to bestow those values in my teammates and I as student athletes – to respect the process to get to where we wanted to go and achieve the goals we wanted to achieve,” said Hagen.
Those lessons continue to pay in dividends as Hagen – along side his Lady Bearkats – have rallied to earn thier first-ever national championship title to prove it.
“Dedication, sacrifices, accountability, determination, passion, and all the extra hours of practice were all values of the 'process' we had to accept and live through if we wanted to chase great things,” Hagen added.
Under Hagen's leadership, the Sam Houston Women won the championship match 4 – 2 over Nebraska before a national television audience on ESPNU, bringing an imaginable degree of stress to the 'Kats, which wasn’t palpable from the replay. The telecast was rebroadcast on ESPN’s main network.
Nebraska, defending their title from 2013, traded wins with the Sam Huston Bearkats through the first four games before the Bearkats took the fifth and sixth game in decisive fashion to close out the match. Seniors Kimi Davidson and Neishka Cardona led the way, coming up with big marks throughout the match. Davidson and Cardona were the first two student-athletes recruited by coach Brad Hagen when the program was founded.
“This has been the dream from the beginning,” Hagen said. “Four years ago, we started this program with a national title as our goal. Kimi Davidson was our first recruit and Neishka Cardona joined us soon after. The two seniors have been great leaders for us.”