LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The annual Night of Champions banquet took place on Wednesday night at Louisville Marriott East, with All-America teams being introduced. At it, three University of Pikeville bowlers and a coach were honored before their peers.
 
The celebration takes place on the eve of the Intercollegiate Team Championships, featuring 16 men's and women's teams from around the nation. They represent all levels of collegiate athletics and begin competing on Thursday morning, with championships held on Saturday at Kingpin Lanes in Jeffersontown.
 
Bobby Brown was named the winner of the Kerm Helmer Coach of the Year award by the National Collegiate Bowling Coaches Association.
 
It is the third time Brown has been named Coach of the Year by the NCBCA. In 2010-11 and 2011-12, Brown was the winner of the Gordon Vadakin award as men's coach of the year while coaching at Morehead State University.
 
Brown joins the only other coach in women's bowling history as a winner of the Kerm Helmer Award. Founding Coach Ron Damron won the honor four times in his career. He is one of two coaches to win the award four times.
 
This season, Brown coached the UPike women in 13 tournaments. They came away champions in seven of them, including two of the four Tier One tournaments in which they competed, the Roto Grip Keystone Quaker Classic and the Columbia 300 Hoosier Classic.
 
In the other six tournaments, the Bears recorded five runners-up finishes and a third-place honor.
 
The Bears enter the ITCs ranked fourth in the nation in the Online Team Ranking System.
 
Individually, two men's bowlers and a women's bowler were honored by the NCBCA and one by the IBMA.
 
Bryce Oliver was named first-team All-American by the coaches association and was one of four players named Player of the Year runner-up by the bowling media.
 
A senior from Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, Oliver was second in the nation this season in scoring average at 224.648. He had differential – the difference in her score and the average score of all bowlers competing in a tournament – 38.772.
 
In 12 tournaments this season, he came away with three titles, nine Top 5 finishes and placed in the Top 10 on 10 occasions.
 
UPike senior Kristina Catoe, the NAIA bowler of the year, was named a second-team All-American by the NCBCA. The Mooresville, N.C., native competed in 12 tournaments this season, winning two titles, recording five Top 5 finishes and placed in the Top 10 eight times.
 
She carries an average of 201.224 this season, and an average differential of 31.126, and finished in the Top 16 of the Intercollegiate Singles Championships this week.
 
Josh Maslanich was named to the five-member NCBCA All-Rookie Team. A freshman from North Royalton, Ohio, averaged 208.837 over 11 tournaments this season. He recorded a differential of 22.986 and placed in the Top 10 in four different tournaments.