NORFOLK, Va. (March 24, 2023)--Morgan State freshman bowler Johnna Hill was named Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) Rookie of the Year, presented by Wells Fargo, the conference office announced on Friday morning. Hill becomes the first Lady Bear bowler ever to be named Rookie of the Year.
 
Hill also earned All-MEAC First Team honors, while junior Cheyenne Washington was named to the second team.
 
North Carolina A&T State junior Melanie Katen was named MEAC Bowler of the Year, while Kim Terrell-Kearney of North Carolina A&T earned Coach of the Year honors.
 
All awards were voted on by the conference's head coaches and sports information directors.
 
A native of Pittsburg, Pa., Hill, who was a four-time MEAC Rookie of the Week selection, turned into a key cog for the nationally-ranked Lady Bears. She led the MEAC in strike percentage (52.0%) and ranks second in scoring average with 20.243 pins per frame. In Baker play, Hill averaged a MEAC-best 20.405 pins per frame, and she ranks third in the conference, recording at least nine pins on her first ball 74% of the time. Her 9.057 pins on first ball are also a MEAC best and her 89.857% PCPI ranks fourth.
 
Hill recently qualified for the USBC Intercollegiate National Singles Championship (April 17-22) in Las Vegas, Nev. after finishing fifth out of 154 bowlers at the USBC ISC Sectionals in Dayton, Ohio.
 
Joining Hill and Katen on the All-MEAC First Team are Maryland Eastern Shore's Brook Roberts and North Carolina A&T State's Chloe Newberry and Lauren Tomaszewski.
 
Washington ranks sixth in the MEAC in scoring average with 19.691 pins per frame. She led the team in all spare percentage (71.9%) and was second on the team in strike percentage (45.5%). Her 8.96 pins on first ball also ranked second on the team. In traditional format play, Washington averaged 20.149 pins per frame, which ranks fourth in the MEAC.
 
The Pontiac, Mich. native, earned MEAC Bowler of the Week honors (March 1) after leading Morgan State to a second-place finish at the New Jersey Open. Washington, who was named to the New Jersey Open All-Tournament Team, ranks fifth on the MEAC's top individual games list with a best of 265 at the New Jersey Open.
 
Joining Washington on the All-MEAC Second Team are Delaware State's Saralyne Nassberg, Maryland Eastern Shore's Gabrielle Ochoa Hubbard and Elizabeth Ross, and Monmouth's Jamie Phelan.
 
The 2023 MEAC Bowling Championship is set for Friday through Sunday at Pinboy's at the Beach in Virginia Beach, Va. Sunday's championship match will broadcast via re-air on ESPNU on Monday, April 3 at 6 p.m.
 
For more information, visit Championship Central.

For the complete 2023 All-MEAC Bowling Team, click here.
 
The MEAC Strategic Communications Office contributed to this release.
 
 
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ABOUT MORGAN
Morgan State University, founded in 1867, is a Carnegie-classified high research (R2) institution offering nearly 140 academic programs leading to degrees from the baccalaureate to the doctorate. As Maryland's Preeminent Public Urban Research University, and the only university to have its entire campus designated as a National Treasure by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, Morgan serves a multiethnic and multiracial student body and seeks to ensure that the doors of higher education are opened as wide as possible to as many as possible. For more information about Morgan State University, visit www.morgan.edu.