Glen Este graduate Blake Huber signed to bowl in college at Wright State University last month in the school’s East Cafe. Huber, along with fellow GE alum Leslie Campbell, will join the Raiders bowling team in the fall.
Glen Este graduate Blake Huber signed to bowl in college at Wright State University last month in the school’s East Cafe. Huber, along with fellow GE alum Leslie Campbell, will join the Raiders bowling team in the fall.

By Chris Chaney
Sun staff

 

Glen Este High School held a signing ceremony for graduating senior Blake Huber last month as the two-time Eastern Cincinnati Conference Bowler of the Year decided to take his talents north to Wright State University.

“(Blake)’s got the game. He knows it inside and out, he knows what to do, where to move,” Glen Este head bowling coach Kathy Demarko said. “He has the equipment and parents (that support him), he’s got the drive. Now, all he has to do is take that final step that is inside of your brain. You can’t teach someone that. What’s inside of you, what drives you, that’s all up to you. He’s only 19 years old — he has the rest of his life to figure that out — and he has that drive that I expect him to do nothing but kick butt and take names across the United States.”

Over his four-year run at Glen Este, Huber led his squad to a league championship every year. Beginning in the now-defunct Fort Ancient Valley Conference, Huber averaged a 198.6 during his sophomore season, earning him First Team All-Conference honors. From there, the Trojans became Huber’s team, captaining his classmates to back-to-back titles in the first two years of the ECC.

Individually, Huber’s highest average came as a junior when he posted a 221.4 pin per game mark and a high series of 567. In his senior season, taking on more of a leadership role, he helped his team to their fifth consecutive conference crown while still throwing an average game of 216.8.

A member of one of the most dominant Glen Este bowling teams in history, Huber will join Leslie Campbell at Wright State where the pair will continue to bowl together under the tutelage of program director Jeff Fleck.

While Campbell has a lighter load of talent to sift through her freshman year than Huber — he’s one of 12 incoming freshmen that the Raiders have coming into the men’s program — both are expected to compete for spots as varsity starters.

“The fact that both of them ended up at Wright State — first of all, what a compliment to Wright State,” Demarko said of two of her prized pupils. “I’m sure (Fleck) is ecstatic (to get them both). It’s nice because I know Blake’s mom and dad and Leslie’s mom and dad will be able to go watch their children perform at a college level as close as they are. What a great way to have that happen.

“I’m thrilled that both of them got into the same program with wonderful coaches and the fact that it’s accessible to myself (and others). I’m stoked.”

The collegiate bowling will be the next step for both Huber and Campbell, but first they have their summer circuit that takes them around not only the state, but also the region and beyond as they continue to try to improve themselves and their games.

The collegiate season gets underway in the late summer and the schedule traverses through fall and winter and into spring with tryouts commencing in late August and Nationals being held in mid-April in Reno, Nev.

The Raiders will roll locally and nationally, competing nearly equally in Ohio, Indiana and Pennsylvania, even coming home in 2015 for the Storm Hoinke Bearcat Classic at S&S Western Bowl on Jan. 11 and 12 on the west side of Cincinnati.