William Penn Begins Year with 13th-Place Finish at Mid-States

Wichita, Kan.–The Statesmen men’s bowling team opened the 2022-2023 campaign with a trip to the Jayhawk State and came away with a top-half placing at the Mid-States Championship Saturday and Sunday.

WPU finished 13th out of 31 teams with 9,450 pins in six regular games and 20 Baker rounds. Wichita State (Kan.) topped qualifying with 11,250 pins and then claimed the eight-team match play title.

Cameron Brundage of Iowa Western CC topped the individual standings with 1,451 pins for a 241.8 average.

Jared Smith (Jr., Oskaloosa, Iowa, General Accounting) topped the navy and gold in 50th place (283 individuals) with a 198.3 average in all six games.

Jake Cook (Sr., Keokuk, Iowa, Physical Education) also competed in every round, posting a 190.3 average.

Conor Fetherston (Fr., Dublin, Ireland) tallied WPU’s highest average at 207.6 in five starts, while the duo of Bryce Keykal (So., Princeton, Minn., Education), with a 182.3 clip, and Garraty Richmond (Jr., Ottumwa, Iowa, Digital Communications), with a 168.3 average, rolled in four games.

Kody Sapp (Jr., Donnelson, Iowa, Sociology) joined Fetherson above the 200-pin average at 203.0 (three games) in Saturday’s individual competition, while Spencer Fleming (So., Greensboro, N.C., Business Management) averaged 164.5 in two bouts.

“Overall, I am not too upset with how we performed,” Head Coach Cameron Foster said. “Being that we have a new-look team, we can take a lot of positives from this event. We had some key players step up to the challenge in their new roles. We found some things we need to work on, but I am looking forward to watching this team grow and get better with each event.”

Next Up: William Penn takes a week off before traveling to Lawrence, Kan. on October 29-30 for the Jayhawk Collegiate Challenge.