It was a moment Carlos Granados – and many others – have been anticipating for more than a year.

The Venezuelan native and Siena Heights University international student finally made his collegiate bowling debut with the men’s bowling team Jan. 30-31 at the final two American Heartland Intercollegiate Bowling Conference jamborees of the season.

Granados comes from Lecheria, Venezuela, a city with a population of just under 30,000 people in northern South America off the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean.

“I found out about Siena because I was looking for a school with an engineering program and a bowling team,” Granados said. “Siena was one of the top five engineering programs that also had a bowling team. I filled out a sports recruiting form about my accomplishments in Venezuela and sent it Coach (Charles) Cain. He contacted me back right away and got me in contact with the international office. That’s how the admission process started.”

The move was a difficult one for Granados. It meant moving far away from his family and adjusting to a new culture, language and overall way of life.

“The most difficult thing for me coming to the United States was budgeting,” he said. “You need to know how to spend money here. As an in international student the only place you can work at is Siena, so whenever you get money from the government or any other organization, you need to know how to spend it productively.”

In addition to learning the financial way of life in America, living in Michigan proved its own challenge when it came to the weather.

“It’s too cold for me here,” Granados said. “The coldest it gets in Venezuela may be 60 or 70 degrees, and to me that is very, very cold. This time of the year my hometown can be 100 degrees.”

Granados learned the weather transition early on in his move to Siena Heights, as the bowling team had a winter-based team bonding activity his first week on the team: sledding.

“It was fun but at the same time it was painful because of the numbness and getting snow in my face,” he said. “It was funny, but painful at the same time.”

After two semesters of waiting on the sidelines for his eligibility to be cleared, Granados was finally allowed to bowl collegiately at the start of the 2016 winter semester.

In his first tournament at the AHIBC III jamboree, Granados rolled a 1,025 over the course of five games for a 205 average, placing 32^nd individually in the 187-bowler field.

His second tournament came just a day later at the AHIBC IV jamboree, where he averaged a nearly identical 205.5 average with an 822 total over the course of four games to place 46^th in a 181-bowler field.

Nine games into his bowling debut, Granados is averaging 205.22, which leads a SHU men’s bowling team that is currently in the midst of their best season in program history.

Freshman Will Shaffran, currently the second highest average bowler on the team at 201.86 over 36 games, has seen the impact Granados has made for the team first-hand.

“I really like his personality,” Shaffran said. “Obviously he’s been good for us, which is great. But we all get along well with him and that really helps the bonding. He’s a quality guy and I’m looking forward to the next three years with him.”

The Saints are currently ranked 51^st in the nation out of 161 teams, with five bowlers holding averages more than 190. The top 80 programs based on rankings qualify for USBC Sectionals which divides the 80 teams into four separate regions. The top four out of 20 teams from each sectional qualify for USBC nationals.

“Our ultimate goal is to make nationals,” Granados said. “I’ve only bowled two tournaments so far, but I am trying to do whatever I can to make the team better.”